At yesterday’s mass, Fr Salvador reminded us that the body of Jesus on the crucifix is covered. With the fifth week of Lent upon us, it is a reminder of our yearning as Christian people to see Christ again, in all his glory.
It is not in the brutality of the crucifixion that we want to see Christ, but rather as the risen Lord. We desire to see Christ, alive and well, having conquered death for our salvation!
While it took someone to climb a ladder and place a cloth over Jesus this time, we are all guilty of covering him up on our own. For some it is a purposeful act. We choose for many reasons to cover up Jesus in our lives. It may be a result of being angry with God or the church or even our own parish priest. Regardless, we cover up Jesus, not really wanting to see who he is and certainly not wanting him to be part of our lives.
But there is a much more common reason that we cover up Jesus. It comes from our actions that are far from Christ-like. It surfaces in our pride and our ego, and it is often reflected in our treatment of others. It is quite easy for us to make that negative comment about someone, think the worst of another or act with impatience and disgust. While none of these behaviours are acceptable, we recognize that it is in our human nature to be sinners and perfection only arrives when we enter heaven. We must realize however, that in those actions, it is us who are covering Jesus and not someone else.
Jesus was pretty adamant when he stated that the two greatest commandments were to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself. Each time we deviate from those two commandments we cover Jesus up in our lives. We place a barrier between us and the love of God.
Entering this fifth week of Lent, we want to tear away that cover that we self impose. We can only accomplish this by being more aligned with the two greatest commandments, love of God and love of they neighbour. This is challenging, especially when there are people in our lives who just simply tick us off but, it is what we all must strive to do! May this last week before we enter Holy Week be one where we keep Jesus from being covered in our lives!
2 Comments
This message certainly will have me look at my reasons for covering up Jesus, especially as we move closer to Holy Week. A very insightful piece, Chris. Thank you.
Author
Thanks Val for taking the time to comment. I know we all need to look at what covers Jesus in our own lives and there is no better time than Lent, especially as we approach Holy Week.