Conversations on the way to the Cross 6: The Burial

Joseph of Arimathea asks Pilate for the body of Jesus

"Joseph of Arimathea to see you, sir."

"Oh yes? And what do you want?"

"I apologize for disturbing you, sir. I request your permission to remove and bury the body of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified at Golgotha this morning."

"Jesus of Nazareth? Don't be a fool, man! He's hardly been up there nine hours. There's no way he can be dead yet!"

"I have reason to believe that he is, sir."

"Oh, you do, do you? Let me get to the bottom of this. Sestus! Sestus! Get me the centurion on crucifixion duty at Golgotha this morning! And you, Mr Joseph, stay right there. I'm not releasing any body until I know a bit more."

"Centurion Flavius of the Ninth Cohort, Mr Governor, sir!"

"Centurion Flavius. You were on crucifixion duty today?"

"Yessir. Three prisoners executed, sir."

"The one known as Jesus of Nazareth - is he dead yet?"

"Dead as a doornail, sir. Stabbed him in the side with my own sword, sir."

"Remarkably quick, wasn't it? You're certain?"

"These ain't my first crucifixions, Mr Pilate, sir. I make sure they're dead, sir."

"Well, Mr Joseph, looks like you were correct. Thank you, centur..."

"You were his friend, Mr Joseph? You knew this Jesus guy? I've gotta tell you, I ain't never seen one go the way he did. That was something else, that was. Were you there? That creepy darkness, and the stillness, like the whole world was holding its breath... felt like I couldn't hardly breathe meself, watching him. The calm on his face! He were in agony, just like the rest, you could tell, but he had such a look on him, just like he was doing exactly what he meant to. And then that final breath - you could almost see the spirit leaving him, fluttering off like a bird or summat... I said to myself, I said, 'This ain't no regular criminal, Flavius. This is like... I dunno, the son of God himself!'"

Mark 15: 33-47

Other Conversations from the Cross
1: The Donkey
2: The Commotion
3: The Authority
4: The Anointing
5: The Betrayal

7: The Precaution
8: The Resurrection

Comments

Models of Contextual Theology: Spiritual Formation Book 7

"A theology that neither issues forth in action nor takes account of the way one lives one's life can hardly be theology that is worth very much." Models of Contextual Theology looks like the most boring book in the world. Dry academic title, weird geometric cover design - you'd definitely only pick this up if you were required to write an essay on it, wouldn't you? Well, I wish the outside did it justice, because the contents are much more exciting than the cover. It asks some very interesting and important questions about how our faith relates to the world around us. Is culture mostly good or bad? Is there such a thing as the "naked gospel", free of context? Do you have to be a trained academic to theologize, or can anyone do it? How much does theology from one culture transfer to a different culture? Bevans describes six models of theology which offer different answers to these questions. All are valid, he says, but they all understand the gospel an

Unto us a son is given...

Did I mention something about life getting back to normal in October? Oh yes, I was just finishing work and looking forward to at least two weeks off to organise the house, stock up the freezer and buy baby stuff. Then little Toby threw a spanner in the works by turning up five weeks early! Which would put his birthday in... let's see... October. So much for normal! For those who would like the gory details, here goes. If you are a mother who had a long and protracted labour, I advise you to skip the next bit - or if you don't, please don't start sending me hate mail. You have been warned. You see, we'd been to all the childbirth classes (yes, just about managed to finish them) and learned all about the different stages of labour, and how many hours each lasted. We learned some relaxation techniques and various things Graham could do to help coach me through long periods of contractions. And then we turned out not to need any of them, because the entire thing

A birthday weekend in York

We were surprised to discover that York is only a 90 minute drive from our house. It's somewhere we'd been thinking of going for a few years, but I'd assumed it was much further away. So when we wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday in January, York was the obvious choice. The city did not disappoint us. I'd been to York years ago, and my only clear memory was of a tower on top of a grassy mound. That was Clifford's Tower, owned by English Heritage, and recently updated with a rather snazzy series of platforms and staircases inside. We saw a 13th century toilet which had been inaccessible for 400 years (I think I was more excited about this than the boys) and got a great view of York from the rooftop viewing platform. View from the top of Clifford's Tower Most people's memories of York probably involve the Shambles - an ancient street of shops - and York Minster. Apparently there isn't a clear difference between a minster and a cathe

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog