{"id":8915,"date":"2011-04-22T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T05:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=8915"},"modified":"2011-04-22T10:55:12","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T15:55:12","slug":"soliloquies-of-the-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/22\/soliloquies-of-the-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"Soliloquies of the Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. Note: One powerful way of reflecting upon scripture is to imagine yourself as part of the story. How would you react if you were present? To whom would you be drawn? How might you perceive the other people in the story? In that spirit, and as a meditation on the events of the Passion, we are pleased to offer these reflections from Jeff Rexhausen, who graciously shared them with us.\u00a0 –ca<\/em><\/p>\n

Soliloquies of the Passion: A Triptych
\nby Jeff Rexhausen<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nTHE FIRST SOLILOQUY: JOHN<\/span><\/p>\n

Bread blessed, bread broken.
\nWords of thanksgiving,
\nCup of His blood taken.
\nThe Master is serving.<\/em><\/p>\n

What can I tell you about that last supper
\ntogether that you haven’t already heard?
\nHardly seems like it was just two days ago.<\/p>\n

I’m John, the youngest, the least.
\nSome of you know how that feels\u2014
\nthe struggle against being left behind,
\nleft out, overlooked.
\nIt was never that way with Jesus.
\nHe was like a father and twin brother to me,
\nrolled into one.
\nThere was always a special place for me.
\nThat day, He asked me to help
\nwith the preparations.<\/p>\n

How I had looked forward
\nto that passover feast.
\nAs Peter and I prepared the supper,
\nI felt a deeper and deeper sense
\nof being part of that initial passover.
\nIt was like the years in between had vanished,
\nand we were being united with those
\nwho were first delivered out of slavery.<\/p>\n

As we ate the lamb, I remember thinking,
\n“This isn’t just a story,” and I felt like
\nthat lamb had been killed for me.
\nAnd then Jesus took the bread and said to us,
\n“This is my body, my flesh,
\nfor the life of the world. Eat it.”
\nMy hands trembled
\nand my heart pounded as I obeyed.<\/p>\n

I thought again about the lamb,
\nits blood on the door, and I knew
\nthat somehow the blood of the lamb
\nwas protecting me.
\nAnd then Jesus took a cup of wine
\nand said to us,
\n“This cup is the new covenant,
\nmy blood to be shed so that you might live.
\nDrink it, and remember.”
\nIt burned in my throat
\nand my belly when I swallowed.<\/p>\n

One more thing He gave us that night\u2014
\na lesson in giving.
\nWhile we talked of our own importance,
\nHe took the footservant’s bowl
\nand knelt before us.
\nThe Master, like a servant, washed our feet!
\nI swear His tears mixed with the water.
\nMy mind and heart were filled as we went out.
\nWe sang the ascents
\nas we climbed the Mount of Olives.<\/p>\n

Eat, drink and remember, He said.
\nBlood, not wine; flesh, not bread.
\nJesus, did you weep for me?
\nShowing us the way.
\nOne day later, He hung dying on that tree.
\nI died, too, that day.<\/em><\/p>\n

THE SECOND SOLILOQUY: PETER<\/span><\/p>\n

Promises made, promises broken.
\nWords of denial,
\nOaths of rejection spoken
\nWhile He was on trial.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s something everyone remembers
\nabout that night.
\nI promised to stand by him; then I denied him.
\nBut let me tell you the rest of the story.
\nI’ve always had a ready word for any occasion,
\nalways been ready to speak.
\nAnd I’ve kept my word, made good my boasts.
\nAs a result, I’ve always been
\nthe one others looked to for leadership,
\nwhether among the fishermen in our village
\nor those of us who followed Jesus of Nazareth.<\/p>\n

He was, in many ways, the opposite:
\na friend of few words,
\nHis looks spoke volumes.
\nHe gave me so much, and sometimes
\nI felt that I owed Him something in return.
\nI always tried–wanted–to have the answer,
\nto be the strong one, the Rock.
\nBut that night, … well …
\nWhen Jesus told me, in the face of my promise,
\nthat I’d deny Him, I was hurt and upset.
\nI vowed to myself that I’d be faithful
\nand true to Him, no matter what.
\nBoy, was I ever wrong!
\nI was brought face to face with my weakness
\nthree times that night.<\/p>\n

First, I fell asleep.
\nHe asked me to be with him for an hour\u2014
\nnothing heroic, just my companionship.
\nWhy was it so hard for me
\nto fulfill that simple request?
\nThen, when the powers that be
\ncame to take Jesus away,
\nI cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
\nHe taught us about love, about forgiveness\u2014
\n“seventy times seven” He told me.
\nWhat happened to that changed life
\nI thought I had?
\nAnd my “shining moment” in the courtyard.
\nThat’s when I showed how proud I was<\/span>
\nto know Him, to be one of the closest to Him.
\nNot hardly!
\nAfter his arrest,
\nit seemed like a good idea to follow.
\nIn the courtyard, it suddenly seemed foolish.
\nAnd when I tried to hide in the crowd,
\nthey recognized what I denied\u2014
\nthat I had followed Him.
\nWhat could I say when He looked at me?<\/p>\n

He wept in the garden that night.
\nThen I wept, too, before the sign of morning light.
\nJesus, did you weep for me?
\nNothing left to say.
\nHours later, He hung dying on that tree.
\nI died, too, that day.<\/em><\/p>\n

THE THIRD SOLILOQUY: JOSEPH<\/span><\/p>\n

Mother wept, heartbroken.
\nOn the cross, dying
\nJesus to God beckoned.
\nFriends in hiding.<\/em><\/p>\n

I couldn’t believe it was really happening;
\nit had to be a dream, a nightmare.
\nBut it wasn’t. I felt helpless, powerless.
\nYou can’t imagine how hard it was to be there.
\nMy name is Joseph–of Arimathea–a member
\nof the Sanhedrin, the ruling council and court.
\nSome of us were followers of Jesus.
\nI guess what attracted me to Jesus
\nwas that He not only spoke<\/span> of God’s love,
\nHe embodied <\/span>it.
\nIt so lived in Him that . . . His body
\nwas a tangible sign of God’s presence and love.
\nMost of the council saw Jesus as a threat
\nto their power and prestige.
\nThey had ears, but could not hear.
\nWhen Jesus acknowledged
\nthat He was Messiah–anointed\u2014
\nI knew it was true.
\nAnd when I saw their anger, my heart sank.
\nHow could they find fault with Him?
\nEven Pilate was not blind like they.
\nBut their anger overpowered Pilate, too,
\nand in the end, Jesus was led away,
\nlike a sheep to the slaughter.
\nSeeing Him nailed–nailed!–to a cross,
\nI wanted to scream “Stop!”
\nHis mother and the other women
\nsobbed disconsolately.
\nBut Jesus’ tears were for us, not Himself.
\nHe reached out to forgive
\nthe blindness and anger
\nof those enemies who condemned him
\nand the ignorance and fear
\nof His friends who ran away.
\nThat’s how He died.
\nI had asked Pilate for His body.
\nThere, by the cross,
\nholding His body in my arms,
\nI prayed, I cried.
\nI cried to God to restore His life.
\nI wished that I
\ncould have given my life for Him.
\nThen I realized\u2014
\nthat’s what He had done for me.
\nAs we placed His holy body in the tomb,
\nI felt crushed by the weight of this tragedy.
\nI thought this was
\nthe closest I would ever come to God.<\/p>\n

Taunted, stripped, and beaten
\nWhen angry men refused to listen.
\nJesus, did you weep for me?
\nLove on display
\nRight before me. As He hung dying on that tree,
\nI died, too, that day.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflect on the events of Christ’s Passion with this triptych of meditations by Pray Tell<\/I> reader Jeff Rexhausen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,91],"tags":[1127,1234],"class_list":["post-8915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-liturgical-year","tag-jeff-rexhausen","tag-passion"],"yoast_head":"\nSoliloquies of the Passion - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/22\/soliloquies-of-the-passion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soliloquies of the Passion - 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