Place the cross on display.
Speaker: The cross helps us to reflect on Jesus’ suffering and death on that first ‘Good Friday’.
Place a crown of thorns on top of the cross.
Speaker: The crown of thorns was placed on Jesus’ head as people mocked him, hailing him ‘King of the Jews’.
Wrap the red voile around the cross.
Speaker: The red voile is wrapped around the cross, symbolising Jesus’ blood, spilt for us.
Sing: ‘I cast my mind to Calvary’ (first two verses)
‘I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see his wounds, his hands, his feet;
My Saviour on that cursed tree.
‘His body bound and drenched in tears,
They laid him down in Joseph’s tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone:
Messiah still and all alone.
‘O praise the name of the Lord our God,
O praise his name for evermore.
For endless days we will sing your praise,
O Lord, O Lord our God.’
Bible reading
While ‘undressing the cross’.
‘On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.’
(Luke 24:1-8)
Sing: ‘I cast my mind to Calvary’ (last two verses)
‘Then on the third, at break of dawn,
The Son of Heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King.
‘O praise the name of the Lord our God,
O praise his name for evermore.
For endless days we will sing your praise,
O Lord, O Lord our God.
‘He shall return in robes of white,
The blazing sun shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face.
‘O praise the name of the Lord our God,
O praise his name for evermore.
For endless days we will sing your praise,
O Lord, O Lord our God.’
This is a line from the Easter song ‘Throne of Heaven’ by Salvationists Rob Little and Nicholas Samuel:
‘There’s an empty cross, an empty tomb, but the throne of heaven is occupied.’
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the one whose death and resurrection we are celebrating today. For this was the point at which Jesus had stepped down from the throne of Heaven to earth.
This theme is repeated in Charles Wesley’s song ‘And can it be that I should gain’ with the line ‘He left his Father’s throne above’; and also in the song ‘You laid aside your majesty’.
These lyrics reflect Paul’s words to the Christians in Philippi (Philippians 2:5-8) when he writes to them to encourage them to imitate Christ’s humility:
‘Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that – a crucifixion.’
(The Message)
And that is how much God loves us. God, in Jesus, came to earth to be one with us, gave up everything and became human. And as the song ‘You laid aside your majesty’ continues, in doing so, ‘You, [Jesus] took all my guilt and shame, when you died and rose again; now today you reign, in Heaven and earth exalted.’
Which brings us back to the words of the song ‘Throne of Heaven’: ‘There’s an empty cross, an empty tomb, but the throne of Heaven is occupied.’
Not by a distant God ruling from afar, nor one who is uncaring of our needs, but the throne of God is now occupied by Jesus, who came to earth to live among us, who died for us and conquered death and is alive for us.
PRAYER
Father God,
Thank you for sending your Son Jesus, so that through him we can be saved.
We praise you for your faithfulness to us and for giving us Jesus as the only example of how we should live.
This Easter, help us in our resolve to put our trust in you and become more like you.
Thank you for your incredible love and compassion to us. Help us show your love, truth and grace in the world.
Amen.
