Good Friday C April 19, 2019
Gen 22:1-18 Ps 22
Heb.10:1-25 John 18:1-19:37
When we survey the New Testament and the history of the Christian Church, we might ask the question, "Is Christianity about the Cross of Jesus or about the Risen Christ?"
And the obvious answer is, "Both."
But Good Friday is the day of the Cross of Jesus Christ. We venerate the cross on this day, because that is what the practice is in church tradition and it is also what the New Testament writers did.
Paul wrote, "May I not boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
The Passion Gospel of John's Gospel is the account which boasts most profoundly about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John is written and attains a particular climax in the cross of Jesus.
Early in John's Gospel, Jesus told Nicodemus: "And I, if I be lifted up will draw the entire world to me."
So the cross is presented as the elevator of Jesus into the afterlife of his resurrection?
Why did the writer of John's Gospel write the Passion story with so much boasting confidence?
John's Gospel was the last Gospel written. The writer had lived the history of the success of the Jesus Movement. The Gospel writer knew that the crucifixion of Jesus did not end the memory of Jesus as it was intended by the Roman authorities in Palestine. The cross of Jesus had to be re-visited because the Risen Christ did not go away. The Risen Christ kept re-appearing as a significant Spirit Force in the lives of so many people that the church had to proclaim the Cross of Jesus as the exalted and necessary Providence of God.
Can you imagine a person on the gallows saying to the executioners, "Guys, I'm just letting you do this to me. If I did not want to be executed by you, I could escape. Go, ahead and take my life because you can only do my will by doing so?"
The future re-writes the significance of past events. The resurrection of Christ re-wrote the understanding of the crucifixion of Jesus.
As you and I gather to venerate the Cross of Jesus today on Good Friday what meaning can we take from this day?
First, no matter how bad the present or past has been, the future will change the ultimate meanings of what has happened. This can seem like a rather blatant trivialization of the evil that is often inflicted upon people. It seems cruel to be so confident while evil is happening. "Oh, this is just terrible now, but some day this will all be re-written as having been absolutely necessary for the future." It is true that the present is an absolute link between the past and the future. Faith because of hope about the future, does not justify the current evil. We should resist forcefully evil in the present with all of our strength. And when we lose to suffering, pain and death, let us not lose without a fight. But let us have hope that in our future afterlife that God is large enough to provide us meaning for our suffering and to let us know that our suffering has been beneficial for the life of others in our world. Today, we bring the current crosses of our lives and world and we cry out in pain for the suffering which does not yet have redemptive meaning. And we ask for strength to resist evil and pain with all our might.
Second, and finally, we ask that we might have the mystical experience of the Cross of Jesus that St. Paul and the early Christians had. Paul said that he was crucified with Christ and as a result of this mystical experience, Christ lived in and through him. Paul said that in such an identity with cross of Jesus Christ, the world was crucified to him. That is to say, he had attained the power of self-control whereby he no longer let anything in his life become a controlling idol. He was freed from the power of addicting desire; he had an experience of a Higher Power to attain self-control.
Today as we venerate the Cross, we present with honesty all of the pain and suffering of our lives and our world. We present all of the evil that is inflicting this world. And we scream that we can find no good reason for such evil. But we also offer a deep sigh of hope that the future will provide us with redemptive meanings for what now seems such a triumph of chaos.
Today, we also venerate the Cross as a request for the mystical experience of the cross of Jesus to provide us with the Higher Power to attain the self-control to resist all that is unworthy.
Come today, let us boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.
And the obvious answer is, "Both."
But Good Friday is the day of the Cross of Jesus Christ. We venerate the cross on this day, because that is what the practice is in church tradition and it is also what the New Testament writers did.
Paul wrote, "May I not boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
The Passion Gospel of John's Gospel is the account which boasts most profoundly about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John is written and attains a particular climax in the cross of Jesus.
Early in John's Gospel, Jesus told Nicodemus: "And I, if I be lifted up will draw the entire world to me."
So the cross is presented as the elevator of Jesus into the afterlife of his resurrection?
Why did the writer of John's Gospel write the Passion story with so much boasting confidence?
John's Gospel was the last Gospel written. The writer had lived the history of the success of the Jesus Movement. The Gospel writer knew that the crucifixion of Jesus did not end the memory of Jesus as it was intended by the Roman authorities in Palestine. The cross of Jesus had to be re-visited because the Risen Christ did not go away. The Risen Christ kept re-appearing as a significant Spirit Force in the lives of so many people that the church had to proclaim the Cross of Jesus as the exalted and necessary Providence of God.
Can you imagine a person on the gallows saying to the executioners, "Guys, I'm just letting you do this to me. If I did not want to be executed by you, I could escape. Go, ahead and take my life because you can only do my will by doing so?"
The future re-writes the significance of past events. The resurrection of Christ re-wrote the understanding of the crucifixion of Jesus.
As you and I gather to venerate the Cross of Jesus today on Good Friday what meaning can we take from this day?
First, no matter how bad the present or past has been, the future will change the ultimate meanings of what has happened. This can seem like a rather blatant trivialization of the evil that is often inflicted upon people. It seems cruel to be so confident while evil is happening. "Oh, this is just terrible now, but some day this will all be re-written as having been absolutely necessary for the future." It is true that the present is an absolute link between the past and the future. Faith because of hope about the future, does not justify the current evil. We should resist forcefully evil in the present with all of our strength. And when we lose to suffering, pain and death, let us not lose without a fight. But let us have hope that in our future afterlife that God is large enough to provide us meaning for our suffering and to let us know that our suffering has been beneficial for the life of others in our world. Today, we bring the current crosses of our lives and world and we cry out in pain for the suffering which does not yet have redemptive meaning. And we ask for strength to resist evil and pain with all our might.
Second, and finally, we ask that we might have the mystical experience of the Cross of Jesus that St. Paul and the early Christians had. Paul said that he was crucified with Christ and as a result of this mystical experience, Christ lived in and through him. Paul said that in such an identity with cross of Jesus Christ, the world was crucified to him. That is to say, he had attained the power of self-control whereby he no longer let anything in his life become a controlling idol. He was freed from the power of addicting desire; he had an experience of a Higher Power to attain self-control.
Today as we venerate the Cross, we present with honesty all of the pain and suffering of our lives and our world. We present all of the evil that is inflicting this world. And we scream that we can find no good reason for such evil. But we also offer a deep sigh of hope that the future will provide us with redemptive meanings for what now seems such a triumph of chaos.
Today, we also venerate the Cross as a request for the mystical experience of the cross of Jesus to provide us with the Higher Power to attain the self-control to resist all that is unworthy.
Come today, let us boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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