OUTSTRETCHED ARMS
Two of the most common ways Christ
is pictured are as a child in the arms of His mother Mary, and as a man,
crucified, dying on a cross. Examples of these two images can be found in
almost every Church, and St. Bridget’s is no exception. So common, so expected,
are these pictures, that we fail to see how very
extraordinary they are. For they depict the God we worship as entirely
powerless; the all powerful as entirely dependent on, entirely at the mercy of,
those He created. The sense of wonder in this is well caught in the Song of
Christ’s Glory in the second chapter of Philippians:
Christ Jesus, who being
in very nature God,
did not consider equality
with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness,
And being found in
appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death
– even death on a cross.
How often do we pride ourselves in
our own strength and self reliance? We like to see ourselves as able to achieve
things by our own efforts and to shoulder our own burdens; we do not want to be
a trouble to others and we do not wish to be obligated to others. But this is
not God’s way: born as a child He placed himself in the care of Mary, and at
the end of his earthly life He gave Himself into the power of his enemies.
Placing oneself in a position of
such dependency is a risk: it calls upon people to respond to the need.
Sometimes the response will be positive, as when Mary willingly accepted the responsibility
of becoming the Mother of God’s Son; sometimes the response will be negative as
when Christ was rejected and denied in His passion. Nor is it the strong that
are called on to respond: God chose to place Himself in the arms of Mary, a
young and inexperienced girl without obvious advantages of talent or wealth.
Her first reaction is to be troubled, and to wonder how she can be fit to meet
the demands made upon her. But none the less she answers God’s call,
recognising that when the will to serve is there, nothing is impossible with
God.
Nor is the call to respond a thing
of history. Our world today is full of powerlessness and need. There are the
hungry in need of something to eat; there are the thirsty in need of clean
water to drink; there are the strangers who need to be invited in. There are
those who need clothing, those who are sick and need looking after and there
are many prisoners – literal and metaphorical – who need visiting. And Christ
has told us that whatever we do for the least of these brothers of His, we do
for Him. As the parable in Matthew makes clear, some will respond and will
enter the kingdom prepared for them, and others will not and will depart from
the presence of Christ.
For the
I finish with two more pictures of
Christ. The first is another picture of helplessness. Once more Christ is
cradled in the arms of Mary, but here it is the dead Christ just taken from the
Cross. The final image is that of the risen Christ, expressing the ultimate
victory, and reminding us that Christ is always with us today: beside us in our
times of need, and with us too when we stretch out our arms to help His
brothers and sisters in their times of trouble.
Trevor
Bench-Capon
January
2003