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

The democracy of theology

Who gets to decide what God is like? I am the way, the truth and the life (Image: Pixabay) Well, God presumably has a pretty good idea. The rest of us struggle a bit more. So where do you get your theology from? Who tells you what God is like? And who do you believe when they tell you? I'm asking these questions because I recently read At the Gates , which I reviewed here . It made a lot of useful points about disability and the church. But it also, I noticed, had a very particular view of theology. Once again, I was glad I'd previously read Models of Contextual Theology , because I was able to pick up a few assumptions that the authors of At the Gates were making. I didn't feel that I totally disagreed with these assumptions, but I wasn't sure if I agreed with them either. So I'm using this post to explore them further. Assumption 1 A disabled person's lived theology is just as important as an academic person's theology This generates two opposing reaction

Limestone Way: quirky churches and cave houses

Enough theological reflection - let's go for a walk! Toby joined me for the two walks between Mayfield and Thorpe, via Mapleton and Ashbourne. My old phone finally died, so I was enjoying the capabilities of my new one, including a much better camera and the ability to plot routes on the OS Maps app. Walk One It was the first day of Toby's summer holidays, so I'd promised him a milkshake en route . We parked in Mayfield, went past the primary school, and climbed the hill to rejoin the Limestone Way where I'd left it last time . Very soon we came across Lordspiece Farm, which had what looked like a little shed on wheels outside. The sign said "Honesty Tuck Shop". One part of it was a freezer stacked full of ice cream! It was very tempting, but we'd hardly walked any distance, and we had those plans for milkshakes. We reluctantly closed the door and moved on. The farm dog had a bark much bigger than its body - it was a tiny thing! We continued across some f

At the Gates: Spiritual Formation Book 14

"A church with an accessible culture makes sure a diverse community can participate in everything they do. That's not a burden on a church - it's a cultural shift that benefits everyone." "This is a book about justice." So reads the first sentence of At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches . Written by Naomi Lawson Jacobs and Emily Richardson, who are themselves disabled, At the Gates draws on interviews with dozens of Christians with disabilities to put together a picture of how they have been treated at church. In the book, the interviewees are called storytellers . All too often, the stories tell of lack of access, hurtful comments, and unfounded assumptions about their abilities and faith. This, the authors describe as ableism - an ideology that gives power to those who are able-bodied and neurotypical, while regarding others as deficient. What is the book about? The first part of the book covers the issues that disabled people have in havin

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog