The reading
Mark 15:16-39
Then the soldiers led
him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters);
and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple
cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And
they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a
reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they
stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led
him out to crucify him.
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the
country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander
and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means
the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did
not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them,
casting lots to decide what each should take
.
It was nine o’clock
in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against
him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one
on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking
their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in
three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the
chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves
and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King
of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those
who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon,
darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three
o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’
which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the
bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone
ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to
drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’
Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple
was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing
him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was
God’s Son!’
Like Palm Sunday a few days ago and Holy Thursday yesterday,
this is the first time I have prepared a sermon for Good Friday. Over my past 7
years here, I have shared a brief reflection, if that, during our services
today. I held the belief that the
readings, songs and rituals shared today speak for themselves. I still think
that is true, but I wanted to say more.
We could all use a little help understanding and getting through today.
The best way to do that is locating this cross with Jesus on it in the story of
God’s love.
Personally, I am used to Jesus on the cross. Right outside
the Roman Catholic Church I grew up in, there was Jesus on the cross, at least
20 feet high, with a spotlight on it, a kneeler in front, flowers and candles
left in worship and memory of loved ones and visible from blocks away. I remember being in High School and I would
wear a gold cross with Jesus on it that my uncle gave me as a confirmation
gifts a few years earlier. One day, another student, who seemed particularly
hostile towards Christianity, randomly asked me “why are you wearing that, it’s
pretty much a tool of ancient torture and murder, whats wrong with you”. I responded “it is also the way of our
salvation, the means God used to save us from death”. We had a few more sentences back and forth
and he left saying “you gave me something to think about”. I wish I could say
after our conversation, the person started to come to church with me, that my
beautiful words about the odd weakness and mystery at the center of our faith,
the way God can use all things for good and the depth of God’s love for us
saved a soul but honestly I have no idea. I do not even remember who it was let
alone what happened to them. I guess
this experience stuck with me because it seemed like I was doing what Peter
writes in his first letter: “But in your
hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone
who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect”
Many others are not so used to Jesus on the cross though. A
few times a year I have problems trying to explain the cross with Jesus on it
that sits at the heart of this reading and literally at the center of our
church (for readers: there is a cross with Jesus on it in the center of our church above the altar) The first time we have children’s church with the students at our
Rainbow Christian Preschool up here, at least one of the children always asks “who
is that”. I say something like it’s a
picture of Jesus to remember him and remind us how special he is. That is not the challenging part. The real
hard part comes next: “why is he hanging there”, what is happening to
him”. I have no great way to explain
crucifixion, death and resurrection to a 4 year old. Sometimes I will start to stumble through an
answer and get relief when one of the teachers says something or 5 other
children interrupt with other, easier questions. When we talk about Good Friday, I say, some
very bad things happened to Jesus and all his friends did not think they would ever
see him again.
It is not only young children who have problems
understanding why this cross with Jesus on it is in our church. Now and then I will talk to members from some
of the churches that share our space with us. For many of them, Jesus on the
cross is a strange thing to focus on.
The discomfort with Jesus on the cross comes from the idea that we
worship the risen Christ, the all powerful one, the one who triumphed over sin
and death, the one who was removed from that cross, buried, rose again and
ascended into heaven. Many protestant
and non-denominational churches, if they have a cross at all in their worship
space, it’s empty. After all, we praise
a risen, triumphant Christ, not a suffering Christ and certainly not a dying
Christ.
Many people, of faith or not, wonder why we lift up the
cross so much. This is best summarized
by a question someone in the community asked me last year: “why do we call the
day Jesus died Good Friday. After all, this is Jesus, who healed the sick, calmed the storm, fed the
hungry, welcomed the stranger, cast out evil, taught us to pray, announced
God’s love, welcomed the stranger, included the outcast and promised God would save us from sin. “What’s
so good about his death?
I actually had no idea where the term Good Friday came from,
so I looked into it. There are some possibilities
and suggestions based on language use, translations or different meanings of
words. Our faith answers that question about Good Friday’s name with joy and
certainty. On Sunday, I am going to say that Easter is the most important day
in our faith, but there is no Easter without Good Friday. There cannot be resurrection without death.
We cannot be saved from sin without knowing it’s there. God’s love is not revealed to the powerful
through the powerful, It is revealed to all through the cross. The day of
Jesus’ death is called Good because through his death, all of us have new
life. Because of today, sin can no
longer separate us from God and death no longer has any power over us. To be
honest a church with no cross in it can be just a social club, the pastors and
leaders of such a place can be little more than motivational speakers or self
help teachers. Faith with no cross in it
can become just a way to get what we want, justify greed as a reward or an
excuse to keep things the way they are. Christianity without a cross can be
easily manipulated to justify anything.
To believe the soilder’s proclamation, “Truly this man was
God’s son” is to believe in the true power of God’s grace, to call this day
good is to understand “For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, so that whoever believes in him, would not perish but have
eternal life”
No comments:
Post a Comment