An introduction:
On the Friday of Holy Week, we turn our attention to the experiences of Jesus leading up to his execution. Through this story, we might consider how in Jesus we see God standing in solidarity not with the highest religious and political authorities, but rather with those most vulnerable to policies that serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful. Jesus dared to challenge political authority on Palm Sunday by mocking military parades with his theatrical entrance on a donkey. He flipped the tables on economic and spiritual exploitation in the temples later in the week. As a poor man from the fringes of the fringe of the empire, he claimed his voice and spoke truth to power. Religious leaders invested in maintaining the status quo colluded with politicians to silence him. This is the story of Good Friday.
The Stations of the Cross, typically fourteen points along the story of Good Friday, have been reinterpreted over and over again to draw attention to Christ in our midst through the stories of people who suffer under the weight of injustice. We are invited to see Christ in our encounters with them. Today we name the suffering and do not turn our face from it, but that suffering is no more the whole story of people living in economic insecurity than his execution is the whole story of Jesus. It is an important chapter, but it is not the only chapter. We acknowledge Christ among us in the faces of our neighbours, and in the faces we see in the mirror.
We also remember that even in his death on the cross — a form of execution most typically used for those determined to pose a threat to the political powers — he exposed the corruption of those very powers. It was an act of resistance, but also one that confused those followers who hoped he’d lead them to a violent uprising. The cross challenges both the powers that be and those who wish to topple those powers only to claim their place on top. We know that his execution was not the end of Jesus’ story, but in our discomfort let us not rush to the hope of resurrection and skip over the chaos and fear of Friday and Saturday. Neither let us fetishize the suffering on the cross in a way that misses out on the most important parts of God’s radical act of solidarity. The point is not that we should suffer too, but rather that we may be called to dismantle systems of oppression that perpetuate suffering.
Fr. Richard Rohr reminds us: “The way of the cross looks like failure. In fact, you could say that Christianity is about how to win by losing, how to let go creatively, how the only real ascent is descent. We need to be more concerned with following Jesus, which he told us to do numerous times, and less with worshipping Jesus — which he never told us to do.”
1. Jesus is condemned to death
Jesus was condemned to death by a government whose policies devalued the lives of the poor. In the last year as the economy strains under pandemic pressure, policies that adequately support people in poverty have not been adequately prioritized.
Headline: Coronavirus: 80% of low-income families financially worse off since pandemic, new report finds:
“More than three-quarters of families said the Covid-19 crisis has affected their ability to pay for food (83 per cent) and utilities (76 per cent), while around half said it has affected their ability to pay for housing (47 per cent) and child-related costs.
2. Jesus takes up his Cross
The burden of the economic system falls not on those who are privileged by it, but rather is carried by those seen as disposable within it. Through the pandemic, the rich have gotten richer.
Headline: Super rich have already recovered from pandemic losses — but it could take the poor a decade, Oxfam warns:
“The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic within nine months, according to estimates from Oxfam, but the global charity believes it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover.”
3. Jesus falls for the first time
The pressures of economic insecurity leads to a series of loss in choices. In the last year, the number of people seeking support from food banks has dramatically increased.
Headline: Help The Hungry: Middle-class graduates join food bank queues as crisis deepens:
“At first he was hesitant to go. ‘I thought, there are people more desperate than me,’ he said. ‘I had been looking for work but since Covid hit there are no jobs and my savings dwindled to zero, so I turned to the food bank for help. The food they give me covers me for the week. I’d be in trouble without them.’”
4. Jesus meets his Mother
We remember the mothers among us. In the midst of the pandemic, working mothers have been disproportionately impacted. The sense of failure amongst women impacted by poverty is often immense —and particularly mothers who have/do it all — home school, do their paid work, support vulnerable family members, carry the emotional load of the family, all at the expense of their own needs and mental health.
Headline: UK working mothers are ‘sacrificial lambs’ in coronavirus childcare crisis:
“Women are being treated as “sacrificial lambs” as the UK economy contracts, with half of working mothers unable to access the childcare they need to return to work, according to a survey exposing the scale of the UK’s childcare crisis.”
Mary, Mother of Failure,
You met your son at the end,
in a place beyond words,
and must have felt faithless
and empty and alone.
We pray that we may have the grace to live with our own
stories of failure,
knowing that love can continue even when things end.
Amen.
Pádraig Ó Tuama. Daily Prayer from the Corrymeela Community. Canterbury Press, 2017.
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
In the midst of the suffering of that day, Jesus encounters two who break ranks to help him — Simon’s choice to step out of the crowd and carry the cross does not come without risk to him. If we see only the help and ignore the risk, we sentimentalize the act. We are called into the street with Jesus, not just to be a good helper, but to know that in doing so we challenge the systems that are watching. For those of us with privilege, what are we willing to put on the line for our neighbours without privilege?
Headline: Coronavirus: How lockdown is making us better neighbours and building new communities
“Usually our daily lives are so disconnected and we all have our own little rituals, going out shopping, going out eating, meeting friends who live somewhere else. There's normally none of this talking over the garden fence or visiting the neighbours down the road or two blocks over. The lockdown has brought people together. It's formed new friendships.”
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
If the first helper challenges the Roman guard by taking up the cross in front of crowds of witnesses, the second helper reminds us that in our challenges to systems of power, we cannot forget the humanity of those suffering here and now. Wiping the brow may seem a small act in the midst of all that Jesus is experiencing, but it is the only point in the story in which someone looks him in the face and approaches him with tenderness.
At The Larder, we witness neighbours wanting to help neighbours. Communities and streets have pulled together to help offer support to others.
Headline: How one street came together to support an East Belfast food bank:
“One street in particular, Oaklands Avenue, has even rallied together to produce a weekly donation, leaving bags of goods outside their homes once a week to be taken to The Larder Food Bank. Some of the residents have used its services when they were struggling, and now they are back on their feet again they are wanting to help as much as they can to help others.”
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/how-one-street-came-together-19237479.amp
7. Jesus falls for the second time
The further descent into poverty is a further restriction of choices. Anxieties rise as meeting basic needs become increasingly challenging.
The fear of insecure housing and a looming wave of evictions is a stressor for many in our community.
Headline: Housing experts fear mass evictions across the North once coronavirus pandemic ends:
"The perception amongst Northern Housing Consortium members is that this approach will not reach the 100% take up needed to ensure nobody loses their home and an upsurge in evictions will begin once the Governments temporary measures have ceased. This fear is underpinned by national data. 52% of landlords and 37% of agents have reported that they would be unwilling to let to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit.”
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
For the third time that day, Jesus encounters women (first his mother, then Veronica). The women weep for him, and he responds saying, “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.”
Women in our community are calling for a recovery plan — so grieve, but also we act.
Headline: Following the implementation of Government policies and strategies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, WRDA identified the disproportionate impact on women:
“...it became clear that pre-existing inequalities were now being exacerbated by the pandemic, and it was clear that these issues of gender inequality could not be deprioritised in dealing with COVID-19; as they were central to the response. There were heightening concerns around how the Government regulations would impact on maternity pay, childcare, employment and domestic abuse, areas that primarily affected women. In the responses from the Government, it was clear that there was a lack of consideration given to the needs and roles of women in society.”
https://wrda.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/WPG-NI-Feminist-Recovery-Plan-2020.pdf
9. Jesus falls for the third time
With each of Jesus’ falls, we remember the compounding experiences of those falling into poverty. During the pandemic, some families have struggled to keep food on the table. Children are feeling the impact of food insecurity.
Headline: Worried kids watch mums skip meals as two million go to bed hungry during pandemic:
“One child told interviewers mum 'tends not to eat so she has enough for me' during the coronavirus crisis as new figures showed 1.7million UK kids regularly went hungry even before the pandemic hit”
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments (sometimes called the "Division of Robes")
The poor experience humiliation, stripped bare and scrutinized, while those aligned with the powerful gamble on their vulnerability. People experiencing poverty are denied the freedom to live their lives in the ways they would wish. Scrutiny of the abuses of the powerful is diverted and refocused on the choices of people living in poverty.
We have no headline for this station. While we could point to dozens of stories criticizing the individual choices of people living in poverty, the stories of the loss of dignity when one’s every choice is deemed worthy of scrutiny by those who otherize you is seldom told in print. Yet, it is a story we hear regularly from friends experiencing poverty.
11. Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Bodies matter. Poverty is linked to ongoing physical, mental, and cognitive health concerns. Equality of opportunity does not exist when some communities are worn down by daily struggles for survival.
Prof. Anandi Mani recently demonstrated that the experience of poverty, and its accompanying stress, places undue burden on mental resources that can impact cognitive capacity. While the poor are often characterized as inherently less capable, he argues that the reverse is true—“the very impact of poverty imposes load and impedes cognitive capacity.”
These are the nails of poverty.
Headline: Financial stress means not just lower income, but also less mental bandwidth, research by Anandi Mani, published in Science magazine, shows:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/news/2013/9/poverty/#sthash.Jk94Tuwk.dpbs
12. Jesus dies on the Cross
COVID-19 exposed existing health inequities. The hard truth is that people living in poverty have been more likely to die during the pandemic.
According to the Department of Health, the COVID-19 death rate in the 10% most deprived areas (77 deaths per 100,000 population) was almost two-fifths higher than the rate in the 10% least deprived areas (56 deaths per 100,000 population) and almost one and a half times the NI average (53 deaths per 100,000 population).
Headline: Doctors’ union urges Government to tackle ‘unacceptable’ social inequalities:
“Coronavirus had “exposed and exacerbated existing health inequity” in under-funded regions which led to more deaths in these areas when coronavirus hit…”
13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross
Placed in his mother’s arms...again we return to the experiences of women. What remains of Jesus, destroyed by the injustices of the state, is left on the lap of an under-resourced community.
Headline: Families are struggling to pay for funerals of loved ones killed by Covid as their own finances are stretched by the economic effects of the pandemic:
“Many families have suffered the unexpected loss of loved ones and have been left struggling to cover the cost of the funeral no doubt made even harder because many households are already struggling with lower incomes as a result of the pandemic and restrictions.”
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-55631839
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb
There have been so many losses to grieve — some small, some tremendous.
Over 2.7 million people have died from COVID-19 — people from around the world and all economic strata, yet disproportionately more among the poor. Each of those people had a name, a family, and a community. We grieve our losses, and like those closest to Jesus experience the confusion and fear of wondering what comes next.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-covid-deaths-region
So we pray. We keep vigil.
And we wait — for hope beyond hope, that God will make a way.
“Nothing that has not died will be resurrected.” C.S. Lewis