Good Friday: A guided mediation

By Greg Finn

Following on from yesterday's Holy Thursday meditation, here is one for today based on St. John's Passion narrative. Read slowly and ask the Holy Spirit to help guide you through the scenes. Try to immerse yourself in them. Consider what you can see, hear and touch. Try to be aware of how your heart is moved at each stage and, most importantly, try to focus on Jesus throughout. Ask yourself how his face appears. How does he move? How does he interact with you?  

Good Friday Meditation

The dawn sun sends a blinding spear of light into your eyes as you bolt through the city. Your heart hammers in your chest. You sprint through the sandy back alleys of Jerusalem. 

"They have taken him to the praetorium!" The words reverberate through your mind as you gasp for air.

You skid around a corner and there, rearing up before you, are the gates of the Roman fortress. The street here is a crowded hive of activity buzzing with a menacing energy. It is a melee of threatening faces, shoving hands and fierce shouts. Fear prickles down your spine but you press through the gates and into a heaving courtyard.

The tumultuous atmosphere outside is amplified within the tight confines of the praetorium. Bodies begin to crush against you. The mob surges and your feet are swept forward uncontrollably across the pavement slabs.

The area is enclosed on each side by large grey pillars and ahead of you are stone steps leading to the dark interior of the Procurators palace. Legionaries are stationed atop the stairs. Their eyes glare with suspicion across the scene, their shoulders tense as they grip their weapons tightly.

Below the steps you spy priests and elders of the temple. They are clothed in flowing white vestments and mutter to one another through clenched teeth.

The agitated hum of the crowd breaks suddenly into raucous cries. Curses are spat venomously from all around as clenched fists thrash the air. There you see him. Jesus comes into view at the top of the steps, dragged forward before the baying mob. His face is sickeningly swollen, blood is spattered across his clothing and his wrists are bound with a metal chain. Gradually he raises his eyes and you look into his bruised face. What do you see?

Standing beside Jesus is the Roman governor. He is adorned in armour and wears a steely expression. Pontius Pilate glowers down at the Jewish leaders with contemptuous loathing. He raises a hand and the yells around you subside.

“I find no basis for a charge against him." He cries "But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
Immediately voices everywhere shriek “Give us Barabbas!”

Jesus is dragged savagely out of sight. 

Another man emerges and is thrust down the stairs. With a bewildered glance behind, he disappears into the crowd.

Pilate's platform is empty once more. The sun has now risen and you begin to feel its harsh heat against your face. You notice some of the temple guards moving quietly between the people. A tension clenches your stomach and you hastily pull your outer garment over your head. You are not among friends here.

It seems as though hours pass before Jesus is brought out once more. His back is hunched now and deep red stripes can be seen rippling across his raw skin. A blood-sodden purple robe hangs about his shoulders. His face is unrecognisable. A mangle of thorns has been excruciatingly pressed into his forehead.

A blast of jeers and ridiculing shouts greet him. You look on. How do you feel when you see Jesus there?

The atmosphere has swiftly become ferocious and you hear deafening cries of "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Panic is exploding within you. As you shriek out for it to stop, a furious fist hits the side of your head and you plummet to the floor. By the time you have fought to your feet Jesus is nowhere to be seen.

Dazed, you scramble back out onto the streets. The wave of people is now careering away towards the city walls. Dread floods your veins. You franticly attempt to push through the droves but the mass of bodies is impassable. Up ahead, the lashing sound of a whip crackles through the air and there follows a clatter of wood on the ground.

You heave your way forward and pass through the walls of the city. Now you see him and pain slices through your heart.

Jesus hangs on a cross. Cruel nails pierce his hands and his feet, his body is limp and torn.

As you stagger forwards, soldiers cackle with one another and brazen taunts can be heard from those gathered around. Jesus remains silent, head bowed. 

You edge towards the foot of the cross and for the first time see some faces you recognise. There are friends who came to listen to Jesus speak in the Temple. Also, you notice women from Galilee. They stand motionless and clutching each other. One is down on her knees, her face low. Tears fall silently from her cheeks dampening the rocky ground. Jesus's mother weeps helplessly beneath her child.

A devilish chill is in the air. You look up as forbidding clouds sweep across the ashen sky. Your sorrowful gaze is then met by the eyes of another. Jesus looks down at you. How do you feel to have his eyes upon you now? 

The tormented wind begins to howl. The Roman soldiers anxiously stand and look towards the darkening firmament, but Jesus still has his eyes on you. He opens his lips and speaks to you. Listen now to what he has to say.

Jesus slowly looks away. He mouths "I thirst."  A jar of wine vinegar is by the cross, a Roman soaks a sponge in it, puts the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifts it to Jesus’s lips. Jesus then whispers, “It is finished.” With that, he bows his head and gives up his spirit.

Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me on the cross. Thank you for loving me so completely. Help me to consider your sorrowful Passion this day. Allow it to strengthen me, build my faith and give me the courage to overcome trials in my own life. Let my love for you grow deeper. Amen