Voices of the Passion and Easter - the Audience

As I have imagined the reactions and thought processes of those people involved in the Good Friday and Easter narrative, what is our reaction as we see this scene portrayed?

What were our expectations in coming to see this retelling of a familiar story?

We looked to be entertained dispassionately, and yet the pathos of this play spoke to our inner being that we have not encountered before.

There was the injustice of being arrested on charges that were falsely laid and the times when our eyes were averted from the brutality of beatings that Jesus did not deserve. We were troubled by the moral and judicial injustice of the situation. Why should the One who said and did great good be the subject of anger and hatred?

But we are not passive – for in the crowd, we hear our voices as we join others in calling out: ‘Crucify Him.’ There is part of us who cannot bear His holiness that shines a light on our inner darkness which is uncomfortable, so we want the perpetrator done away.

In the crucifixion, we are not innocent bystanders looking on at events that are out of our control. Although the events were before we were born, we are still responsible for Jesus bore our sins on the cross – it is as though our hands also beat the nails through His wrists and ankles.

It is only in the realisation that our Redeemer died that, through Him, sin and death has been defeated. We now have our relationship restored with God through His bringing about the new covenant by the breaking of His body and the spilling of His blood.

It is only in the recognition of this fact that we can join with the celebration of the Easter message where the living is no longer with the dead.

1.    Jesus Christ is ris'n today, Alleluia!
our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

2.    Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
unto Christ, our heav'nly King, Alleluia!
who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

3.    But the pains which He endured, Alleluia!
our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
now above the sky He's King, Alleluia!
where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!