Hope not hate

Saffiya Khan stands her ground with an EDL supporter

The cross of Jesus

Tuesday of Holy Week
11th April 2017

Here are two images from the last four days' of news I would like to use to help us put into context our bible readings for the Tuesday of Holy week (1 Corinthians 1.18-31 & John 12.20-36).

Before the cross of Jesus - seven bombing victims

We are so aware, in these days, of the ugly and evil fruits of violence and hate. Here are two examples :

On Palm Sunday, more than 40 Christians and three Muslim police officers were killed in two suicide bomb attacks at Coptic churches in Alexandria and Tanta in Egypt. The bombers struck as congregations sang Hosanna - which means, 'Save us'. Yesterday there were funerals for some of them in a monastery in Alexandria. The second picture shows the coffins of seven victims laid before Jesus enthroned on the cross.

On Saturday, in Birmingham, about 100 members of the English Defence League were holding a hate-filled protest. One young woman's smiling stand against the abuse went viral around the world. The image of Saffiyah Khan has been shared thousands of times since it was taken at Saturday's demonstration. Ms Khan, from Birmingham, intervened when she saw another woman surrounded by about 25 EDL men. Saffiyah was defenceless and brave and unafraid as she implacably withstood his hatred with a smile. On the EDL man's shoulder is the cross of St George.

Two crosses: one the cross of Jesus, an emblem of suffering and redemption; the other a symbol of England which extreme nationalists continue to use as an emblem of hate and xenophobia.

'The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,' says St Paul.. 'But to us who are being saved it is the power of God... Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?'

Jesus foresaw the shadow of the cross looming. In John chapter 12, we continue on the narrative of his last days. Yesterday, his body was anointed for burial by his dear friend Mary at a celebration meal following the resurrection of her brother Lazarus. Remember the aroma of the anointing filling the house? Were Jesus' feet still smelling of the spikenard when he was nailed to the cross? Did his friends still carry the scent on them?

Today we read how some Greek Jews, in Jerusalem for the festival, want to meet him and have asked Philip and Andrew if they can see him. Still Jesus is drawing people to himself. They are captivated by him.

It is not clear if Jesus does see them. But what he does say is that his destiny is to draw ALL people to himself as he is lifted up from the earth on the cross.

I have been thinking a lot about this phrase of Jesus alongside Paul's assertion that the cross is foolishness to the world but wisdom and power for those who are being saved.

  

Who is the most unlikely convert to faith in your mind? Well, the centurion who oversaw Jesus' crucifixion is certainly up there. A man of brutality and violence, used to meting out cruel executions for the state and in the name of the powerful. Yet, it is he, a man of violence who says those words of utter conviction as Jesus dies before him: 'Surely, he is the Son of God.' Jesus' first convert at his violent death is a man of violence - whose heart and eyes are opened by the manner of his death, his words of forgiveness and compassion, his words of commitment into God's care.

In these times of violence and hatred, the centurion gives us hope: hope here in England and hope in Egypt.

Might it be too much to hope that the leaders of the EDL, wearing the cross of St George on their t-shirts, may yet be turned from the hateful and violent ways by the forgiveness and compassion of Christ at work in and through faithful people?

And in Egypt, another narrative emerges, of Christian witness and faithfulness and restraint in the face of violence. The Coptic church is undergoing a revival in the very crucible of her suffering. Congregations have doubled and trebled in churches across Egypt since the first bomb attacks of 2013. And the Christian community is showing incredible restraint. So much so that ordinary Muslim neighbours are rallying to their support, weeping with them and seeking to defend the churches.

Pope Francis is due to visit Egypt at the end of the month. This was his prayer on Palm Sunday - may it be ours too:  "May the Lord convert the hearts of the people who are sowing terror, violence and death, and also the hearts of those who make and traffic weapons."

For those in Alexandria suffering unimaginable pain and loss following the senseless violence and hatred of the Palm Sunday bombings, it is apparent they find comfort laying the coffins before the Cross of Jesus. We pray with them that in the darkness of their pain, they may know the light of Christ and remain children of light.

For those who conspire works of hatred and violence, we echo the prayer of Pope Francis, may they be turned around, stopped in their tracks, by the love of Jesus.

And may Christ continue to draw all people to himself as he is lifted up on high.