Good Friday B March 30,
2018
Gen 22:1-18 Ps
22
Heb.10:1-25
John 18:1-19:37
The Passion Gospel of John was the
last Passion of the four Gospels to be written.
And being so late in comparison with the others, it reveals some interesting
features.
What is the difference between
history and providence? History, in the
modern sense, is supposed to be a non-passionate report of events that happened
without any interpretation about the meaning of the events by the one who
writes history.
In this definition of history, the
Passion of John's Gospel is not history.
It does include some actual historic event, but it is a highly
interpreted account of the crucifixion of Jesus, and it is full of the meaning
that is called Providence.
The writer of the Gospel of John
was saying, the cross of Jesus was terrible, and it was full of suffering, but
God not only meant it to happen, God orchestrated it to happen.
Providence is when history is seen
specifically as a direct action of God.
This means that Providence is significant revisionary history. Providence is Revised history. It is history injected with the interpretive
rose glasses of faith.
How can this happen? How can it be reported that Jesus interacted
with Pilate as though Jesus was writing the script about how Pilate was
supposed to judge?
The cross as the providence of God
happened because of the aftermath of the death of Jesus. Jesus reappeared. And he kept reappearing over and over again
in the lives of many people. Jesus died
out of the world but he was reborn into the lives of so many people. So, what else could the Christians say about
the cross of Jesus? How could it be a
mistake? How could it be seen as the
defeat of Jesus? The reappearances of
Christ could not have happened in the way that it did, if Jesus had not died on
the Cross. It had to be that way. And if it had to be that way, then it was
God's plan. In fact, even though Jesus
was not a priest or a sacrificial lamb, in his death on the cross, the early
church came to see Jesus as a High Priest, offering himself as the final
sacrificial Paschal Lamb offering for all of humanity.
The more successful the Christian
Movement became, the more the providential details in the life of Jesus of God
were expanded in the preaching and writing of leaders of the early church.
In the presentation of Providence
of the Cross of Jesus there is an interesting switch in blame. The New Testament writers, who were Jews,
held their rival Jewish leaders more responsible for the death of Jesus than
the Roman authorities who really had all the power. This interesting switch in blame may be an
indication of the sociological fact that more Romans and Gentiles had become
followers of Jesus and fewer Jews were followers of Jesus. Most Jews remained
in their synagogue communities and were not members of Christian churches. Historically, this subtle switch in blame has
resulted in deplorable anti-Semitic behaviors by some Christians in societies
where Jews have remained a minority. The
Gospel traditions should never be used to justify any behaviors of injustice toward
anyone. Because the Jewish leaders were
portrayed as being against Jesus in the Passion Gospels, this cannot be used
against them, because what did Jesus say
from the cross? "Father, forgive
them for they do not know what they are doing." If the cross is providential how can one blame
those who seem to be responsible for it?
And how can a follower of Jesus, reject his words about forgiving those
who placed him on the cross. And further
if Christians have expanded the death of Jesus to be for the sins of the world,
how can anyone be certain about what side one would have been in in Jerusalem
on crucifixion day. The Providence of
the Cross does not allow blame, only forgiveness. Sadly, some Christians have forgotten this in
their practice towards Jews and other opponents to their faith communities.
What is the providence of the Cross
of Jesus for you and me today? Perhaps,
it is learning the meaning of God's
forgiveness in how we treat each other.
Even when there is a history of being enemies; the forgiveness of Jesus
from Cross is the starting place for us to love our enemies. Another providence of the Passion of Christ,
means that God completely identifies with the freedom for really bad things to
happen in this world. We have witnessed
in the history of our times, some really bad things. Why is God so permissive? God honors freedom so much that God allows
bad things to happen, and in Jesus, God was the perfect one to whom something
really bad happened. God did not exempt
the divine Son from a very bad thing. The
Providence of this for you and me is that God is identified with those who suffer;
meaning that God too is suffering in their suffering. And in our suffering, we honor the greater
value of freedom as a main principle of God and of life.
And if freedom means continuous
life and continuous creation and continuous time, it means that we can have
future faith to make the very worst of the past, providence because of a
surpassing greater future.
You and I are still holding onto to
a future providence for things that are still just painful history. And since the cross of Jesus attained the
exalted status of providence, we hold in
faith that our lives will attain the future providence of "all being made
well indeed, by future surpassing events of God's Grace." Amen.
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