Good Friday Stabat Mater
This afternoon’s address is built around the hymn, Stabat Mater Dolorosa. It is a 13th century reflection of the suffering of Mary as she stood watching her Son dying. The translation literally means, ‘The Sorrowful Mother was Standing’.
And as we move into this fateful hour of Good Friday we are also called to reflect on the suffering and punishment of our Lord, willingly accepted for no crime at all other than his love for us.
We begin by singing verses 1 to 7.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.
Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender child,
All with bloody scourges rent.
Good Friday is a funny day, not literally, but an odd sort of day when we try to place ourselves at the cross… But it’s not easy. The love of Jesus is a love that is beyond our understanding, even beyond our imagination. It is a love that literally knows no limits.
As we look at news programmes now of terrorist actions or conflicts in the world, or people starving in the Developing World, we do so almost without emotion – we have become hardened. We look back at wars, and if we have had no involvement in them, then we look back at them almost dispassionately – Dare we challenge ourselves to suggest that we often do the same as we look back at the suffering and death of Jesus?
But these words in this hymn help us to get some sort of understanding – this is a mother’s love. No different from the love that most mothers have for their child. The love that wants to see them happy and successful in their lives, the love that would cause the mother to do almost anything to keep their son from being hurt in any way.
Mary stood at the foot of the cross, knowing that there was nothing she could do to take away her son’s pain, all she could do was to stay with him. Anyone who has seen the grief of a parent losing a child will know how much it hurts, how much they would swap places with the child given any opportunity – we share the pain of the parent who suffers, just as we must recognise and share the pain of Mary.
As she stood at the foot of the cross, how much would she have wanted to hold Jesus once more, to wipe his wounds, to cover his ears to the insults…. How many words remained unspoken, how many thoughts were going around in her head, but it was all too late. There was nothing she could do other than be with him…
We continue with verses 8 to 11
For the sins of His own nation,
Saw him hang in desolation,
Till his Spirit forth he sent
O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.
Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Saviour crucified:
Mary was an extraordinary woman, but on occasions I think people are inclined to build her up so much that we forget that she was human, and that she felt human pain and sorrow, and no doubt anger… As she watched her son die, surely her mind must have turned to those who were killing him. She knew better than anyone that he had done nothing wrong. She knew better than anyone that he came into the world only to love and save people.
When Jesus was a young child he was taken to the Temple and met Simeon who said the words we know well – ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to your word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared…’ But the lesser known words that he continued with warned Mary of the pain that would follow, of how a sword would pierce her soul.
Pain isn’t just a physical thing, emotional pain can be equally bad, or sometimes worse… Maybe Mary knew that victory would belong to Jesus in the end, but the journey to that victory was harder than she could ever have imagined.
And we sing verses 12 to 14
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:
By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.
The real challenge of Good Friday is for us to share these thoughts of Mary – yes, Jesus was her son, she was bound to weep, to mourn, to feel some of the pain he felt, but what is Jesus to us ?
This was a man who came and lived the perfect life, he spoke of righteousness and justice, he spoke of making life better for everyone, he spoke against corruption and against injustice, he spoke up for those unable to speak for themselves.
But Jesus also exercised a very personal ministry – all of the pain, all of the insults, the discomfort, even death, he accepted for everyone…, but he would have accepted all of those things for any one of us – that is the immeasurable love of Jesus.
That is the man who held his arms open on the cross ready to embrace all who would come to him.
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