Day 24: “An Instrument of Shameful Death”

Day 24

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

HOLY WEEK

WEEK FOUR: TUESDAY 7 APRIL 2020

“An Instrument of Shameful Death”

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

The waitress taking our order recognized me from when I spoke for a Christmas banquet for the inmates of the women’s prison in Wilmington, NC.  She proceeded to share with me how she had come to know Christ, and how it had changed her life. In prison she was befriended by a woman who shared Christ with her, leading her to a personal relationship with Him. That woman went on to share Christ with many others, some of whom also became Christians, until she was executed for one murder confessing to six: her name was Velma Barfield, and while she breathed her last breath on ‘an instrument of shameful death,’ it was for her ‘the means of life’ – it ushered her into the eternal presence of Jesus Whom she had met and come to love.    

It doesn’t really register with us, this cross of ours, around our necks, on the walls of our homes, on and in our places of worship, but the modern day equivalent would be the electric chair which took Velma Barfield’s life – that would certainly get our attention. At every glance it  would remind us of a shameful death, but  the cross as ‘an instrument of shameful death’ we’ve made out of gold and encrusted with jewels through the centuries, resulting in its losing any semblance of its original state as rough hewn wood, with painful splinters at the touch.   

Find a cross in your jewelry, on your wall, or in a picture, and spend some quiet time just looking at it. Ask Jesus to show you what it means to Him, and in the showing find what He wants it to mean to you: ‘an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life.’

Reflective question: What has He shown you? Write it down for future reflection.

Reflective scripture: Hebrews 12:2

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,…”

Reflective hymn: “Hallelujah! What a Savior – Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood –

Sealed my pardon with His blood: Hallelujah! What a Savior.