Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me,
one who is eating with me.”
They began to be distressed
and to say to him one after another,
“Surely, not I?”
—Mark 11.18-19
Who crucified Jesus?
Surely not I.
No one did.
No one, no disciple,
no priest, no bystander,
no Pilate, no soldier,
no Jew, no one.
Who crucified him,
with nails paid for by everyone’s taxes?
We all did.
We all do.
Who held slaves?
Who failed to bring forth justice?
Surely not I….
Yes, we are all guilty,
guilty of sins we can’t prevent.
The food you eat, the fuel you use,
even the most generous act,
links with another’s pain.
To be part of the living web
is to cause death and suffering.
For all of this we are absolutely guilty,
and in chronic, denied grief.
And for all of this
we are absolutely forgiven.
This is the hard, awful, absolute
good news.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
March 26, 2021