“The eyewitness to these things has presented an accurate report. He saw it himself and is telling the truth so that you, also, will believe.” (John 19: 35)
So that you also will believe. The gospel of John was written so that the community of Jesus followers would have access to the story that brought them into being. The story of God present amongst them, of Love living alongside them. The story of the cost of love lived out and the truth that love can never be extinguished, never be wiped off the slate of human reality. The gospel is not a sepia toned letter that is to be read with nostalgia but the still living words of those who carried the story and who have passed it on so that the story remains alive in our midst. We hear, we remember, and we are re-membered at the Body of Christ in the presence of the Living Christ.
We remember, and the stifling heat of the courtyard overcomes us. We remember, and the smoke of the fire where Peter denied knowing Jesus lingers in our nostrils. We remember, and the grisly snap of the whip assaults our ears. As we hear the words again, as we witness the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine, we are part of a ritual that recreates the past in our present, in our collective memory the life and death of Jesus are happening now.
The ongoing crucifixion of Jesus rises up from our newspapers, our television, our newsfeeds…in the wars and the massacres, in the gross economic indesparities and the ongoing racism and misogyny. The body of God that is creation continues to be crucified in the plunder and destruction of our environment. We remember and we witness sour wine being poured into our waters, the land torn apart as was Jesus’s body. The enduring past and the real anticipation of the future come together in this place, in this moment, this present.
We remember…..