The Tortured Christ - Guido Rocha

In the meditations of Holy Week, it works better for us if we take the journey a step at a time. Sometimes I have seen the impact of Good Friday snatched away by rushing too quickly to the promise of resurrection; equally it lessens the outrageous, unimaginable joy of Sunday if we dampen it down by returning too soon to the Cross. There is a time for everything; a time for joy and a time for sadness.

Today we remember the awful suffering and crucifixion of Jesus. He stood for life and love and justice and faith, upsetting convention and exposing hypocrisy, until the world couldn't stand it and tried to stamp it out of him. The Early Fathers saw this death as God tricking the Devil; the Devil would have him dead, and failed to understand that the son of God cannot remain dead for long. 

In one of the most heart-rending images of the cross, Brazilian sculptor Guido Rocha portrays the fact that Jesus really suffered through his torture. It calls us to assess soberly what kind of Christianity we are prepared to take on - a comfortable, conventional, respectable faith? Or one of radical action that will really cost us something too?

Rocha's sculpture also calls to mind the fact that Jesus endured real, vile torture to the point of death. As we remember Jesus, let's also pray with compassion, and act in courage on behalf of those who are victims of torture somewhere in the world today. How? You have to find out. But when we look at religious imagery like this, it lacks something to say in our prayers that we wish we could take Jesus down from the cross and end his suffering, but not to do the same for those who suffer today. That's not just a "social gospel" - it's the call of jesus himself, when he said, "I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me...  'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did this even to the least of my brothers or sisters, you did it to Me.'

Comments

[Greg Garrett]

Maggie--

Thanks for both this horrific image of suffering--and for linking it back into what we should be doing about suffering today.

Blessings on your Holy Week.

Greg

[Wes Ellis]

Oh, wow!
Your posts so often speak to my heart. And this one pierces it. I love your words. This post is a challenge, a rebuke, and somehow it is an encouragement. Thank you!

[Danny]

This is the second time I have seen this image of Jesus today. I think God is trying to tell me something.

[Claire]

What a truly horrible image. Nice post though. :)