A few weeks ago I injured my back lifting Jesus onto the cross. Clearly this wasn’t the real thing but a dramatized re-enactment. Somehow with just a director, a cast of sixteen and two days to rehearse we presented Mark’s Gospel in just 90 minutes. It was a deeply profound and moving experience.
But I’m left with backache and every time I now twist or bend I’m instantly taken back to the crucifixion scene. The weakness in my back has become associated with Jesus dying. In a similar way the weaknesses that I see in my life – making mistakes, falling prey to temptation and generally falling short of God’s standards on a regular basis – remind me of why Jesus had to go to the cross in the first place.
Frustrated by his own shortcomings the Apostle Paul came to realise that his weaknesses were something to rejoice in, because they caused him to rely on Gods’ strength instead. As he wrote to the church in Corinth, ‘I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me’.
It’s because we are all weak that Jesus went to the cross, and it’s because he went to the cross that we can all be strong.
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