THE talented wood-carver Caryll Houselander entitled one of his books, Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross.
That title got me thinking about the parallels between Bethlehem and Calvary – Mary kneeling at the cradle and some thirty years later kneeling at the Cross, the swaddling clothes in which the baby Jesus was wrapped and the burial clothes that wrapped his body after the crucifixion. The wise men’s gift of myrrh, and the myrrh used to anoint his crucified body. Both Jesus’ birth-place and tomb were borrowed spaces. Well known are the three Wise Men who honoured Jesus at Bethlehem. In this my final article, I want to think with you about three lesser known men who honoured Jesus the day of his crucifixion – Simon, the Roman centurion and Nicodemus.