Friday, April 19, 2019

Behold the Wood of the Cross


A haiku for Good Friday:

O tree who offered
Jesus’ holy rough-hewn cross
Paradise awaits

Just as Christ was present when the universe was created and the sun, trees, water, and rock came into being, so were these elements present when Jesus died—the sun reportedly was hidden by an eclipse, Jesus’ cross was made from a tree, and after he died his body was washed with water and laid in a tomb hewn from rock. Thus all God’s created world was a witness to Jesus’ death, along with the insurrectionists crucified alongside him.

As has been pointed out by Fred Bahnson, we are inflicting an ecological Good Friday on the world, as we tear down forests and destroy habitats, strew our oceans with plastic, apply poisonous pesticides to the earth, and spew carbon and other toxins in the air. This Good Friday, I pray that Christ will say to the trees, the water, and the earth, as he said to the insurrectionist who was crucified with him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

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