Comfort In The Cross

A Reflection on the Gospel for May 19th, 2019:
Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 13.1, 31-33a, 34-35

Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During the supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

“Little children, I am with you only a little longer. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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After everything they’ve been through, I wonder what comfort it was to see Jesus, to see His eyes turned on them with such tenderness. “My little children...” He knows what comes next. He knows it won’t be easy. He is about to ascend to His heavenly throne, but there are still more earthly days left for the apostles.

This past weekend I was at my work’s annual conference. It was a great time of refreshment and fellowship. I remember feeling God’s eyes on us, reaching into that space to pour out His tender mercy. The mountain top height of our weekend was quickly brought down to reality when we heard on Tuesday that the court ruling on our conscience rights case was coming down on Wednesday. We were seeing the end of a long fought battle to protect doctors from being compelled to go against their most deeply held moral convictions. I was grateful for that joyful time with Jesus on the weekend before the ruling.

While we were at our conference, we were read this poem by Robert Herrick:

Have, have ye no regard, all ye
Who pass this way, to pity Me,
Who am a man of misery!
A man both bruis'd, and broke, and one
Who suffers not here for Mine own,
But for My friends' transgression!

Ah! Sion's daughters, do not fear
The cross, the cords, the nails, the spear,
The myrrh, the gall, the vinegar;

For Christ, your loving Saviour, hath
Drunk up the wine of God's fierce wrath;
Only there's left a little froth,

Less for to taste than for to show
What bitter cups had been your due,
Had He not drank them up for you.


Here we move from the heights of time with the resurrected Christ to the realization that in our oneness with Christ, we are sometimes called to suffer alongside him. Nothing that we endure comes close to what had been our due. We’re invited not to fear the cross, but to accept our own small portion of it.

"We’re invited not to fear the cross, but to accept our own small portion of it."

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But before we go to the cross, we have to remember that we are first called into a place of gentle peace at His side. When we take the time to focus on Him and to take the time to be with Him, so that we can find rest and refreshment. I want to sit and rest in that thought of Christ looking at me, knowing everything that has and will happen, and saying “My little child...” – words of comfort. Words to carry us through the long days between now and His return. 

And the reminder to love one another. We are called to do for others what Christ is doing for us. We are commanded to bear each other’s crosses and to be a source of comfort and rest. That love can transform every situation and every trial in glory for God. That love can transform death into life itself.

Stephanie Potter

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