Good Friday

When I look at this Station it is the change of characters and focus that strikes me. On the long journey to this point the soldiers and those who ordered the execution have been surrounding Jesus, so much so that others had to fight to push their way in. Their concern was that Jesus die. For them his death was the end; it tidied up a political mess, got rid of a trouble maker, or for the soldiers was simply a job done. They have now lost interest in Jesus, the soldier and the official are chatting, as if they had met by chance and are catching up on the gossip. But it is the faithful women and the beloved disciple who are at the front now. Theirs is no idle chat. You can see from their faces and that of Jesus the intensity of their relationship. Perhaps this is the moment Jesus brings Mary and the beloved disciple together as the new family, where he instigates his Church in John’s gospel. The world at large has no interest in this. Could anything of significance happen now? Not in their eyes. But for us, for those who can see with the eyes of faith, the death that is about to take place changes everything.