I once had the opportunity to see Her Majesty the Queen. It was a very warm day in London, and I remember clearly watching her carriage drive through the gates of Buckingham Palace on its way towards the State Opening of Parliament. Before the Queen, another carriage with the Imperial State Crown had already headed for Westminster. With all the pomp and ceremony, it was just as I had expected. 

Jesus’s own people were expecting a monarch. A great King who would come and free them from the oppression of the Roman Empire under which they lived. Then, finally, came the news that the King has been born—the Messiah—not in a palace, but in a stable with the animals. Not only that, but he gathered around him tax collectors, fisherman, sinners; those who were disregarded by society. 

He made the blind see, the deaf hear and the crippled walk. He was crowned not with a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns. He was enthroned not on a golden throne, but on a wooden cross. How much more could this King have differed from expectations? This was supposed to be the greatest military leader of all time, who would raise up an army that would expel the Romans from Judea and finally set Israel free. 

What sort of King sits at one table with Matthew the tax collector, and eats? What sort of King says “I do not condemn you; go and sin no more” to an adulterous woman? What sort of King washes his disciples’ feet, knowing that in the darkest moment of his life they will desert Him? Surely this cannot have been the Messiah that Israel had been expecting. 

This was a king who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey; a king who broke bread and shared it with his disciples in the Upper Room. This was a king who sweated blood in Gethsemane; who was sentenced to death and beaten; who carried the cross to which he would be nailed through the streets of Jerusalem and on to Calvary. “Father, forgive them,” he said, “for they do not know what they are doing”.

This was a King the likes of whom had never been seen before. The sign above his head read “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,’ but it was only on the Cross that the phrase was first used. It was placed not in honour of Christ, but to mock him. Jesus understood his mission: in order to free the world from sin and death, he needed to mount the Cross. There he was weighed down not only by his own body pulling at the nails, but also the sins of the entire world. 

Reflecting on the situation in Ukraine at the moment, I find myself at the foot of the Cross. On it I see its innocent Victim; there, too, I see people suffering at the hands of others. I see Mary crying with the lifeless body of her Child in her arms; I also see mothers in Mariupol, Kharkiv and elsewhere holding their own dead children.

I remember very well the beautiful town of Bucha, surrounded by forest, which I visited with some of my seminarian brethren last year. I can still see its little cafés filled with customers, young mothers walking along with prams, and little children playing under the trees in the parks. How many of them are now lying dead in the streets? A town that was so alive and peaceful has now become the doorstep to death. What had these people done to deserve this?

I see thousands of mothers who have had no choice but to dig their children’s graves themselves. I hear the cries of parents looking at the dead bodies of their children. I see the terrified and wounded looks on the faces of young girls who have been raped and tortured. Amongst all this suffering, I see the face of Christ on the Cross.

Jesus certainly did not meet the expectations of those who had waited for him. It was only after His Passion, Death and Resurrection that all became clear. On Easter morning the holy women found that the stone was rolled away, and the tomb filled with light. Ukraine is currently rolling away the stone that is Russia. As Eastertide unfolds may Ukraine soon see the same light, which will shine as a beacon to the whole world to say, with the angels: “He is not here; He is risen!” 

Bohdan Mandziuk is a seminarian for the Ukrainian Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, and a student at the Three Holy Hierarchs Seminary on the outskirts of Kyiv.

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