Apr 04 | The Fifth Station: Relationship

Jesus was not alone on Golgotha. There were many people around him watching. While some of the people standing around made fun of Jesus, others were silent – in grief, horror, or awe.

One of these was the repentant thief, who affirmed Jesus’ innocence and asked that he be remembered when Jesus came into the kingdom. In Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition, this thief is given a name – Dismas or Dimas. Through reaching out to someone in pain, condemned unjustly, he received a beautiful affirmation: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

In the Gospel of John two more figures are placed at the foot of the cross: Jesus’ mother, Mary, and “the beloved disciple.” Jesus entrusts Mary to the care of this disciple, which was likely essential for Mary’s survival, as she likely had no one to care for her once her son was dead.

It is in the extension of one’s hand or heart that we are invited into deeper communion and relationship with the suffering beloved. In relationships God entrusts to us great responsibility. As a Jew, Jesus would have affirmed the covenant that was established between God and creation after the Flood in the Book of Genesis. Living in covenant or relationship is a great gift, and this gift should be celebrated in our lives by certain actions. Jesus sums up our half of the covenant in two commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

This is not a relationship that needs to be earned. Jesus does not demand a creed or confession from the thief before assuring him they will meet in Paradise. Likewise, he does not ask John to take care of Mary. He simply says, “This is your mother.” All that happened was a reaching out – by the thief in his defense of Jesus, and by the beloved disciple in remaining by Jesus’ side at the foot of the cross. The relationship is, already. We only have to reach out.