Sermon for Good Friday 3-29-24
Who are you looking for? Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Are you the King of the Jews? Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
John’s account of Jesus’ Passion is full of questions. Jesus’ questions resound with authority, making it clear Jesus is the one in charge, regardless of what the civil or religious authorities may think. Jesus tells Pilot, You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.
The high priest’s servants ask Peter – You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you? Several times. Peter’s response is the exact opposite of Jesus’ . Where Jesus claims his identity, saying to those who come out to arrest him I am he, Peter denies his identity as Jesus’ disciple saying to those who ask I am not.
The Passion can leave us full of questions too. Why did this happen? What’s the point of Jesus suffering and death on the Cross? Over the past two thousand years, Christians have developed many ways to understand the cross. We tend to think of the cross as a horrific execution – and it was. A Roman cross was an instrument of oppression, torture, execution. For the Israelites in of the first Century, crucifixion was the worst thing that could happen. Jesus endures the worst thing humanity could do to him, remaining faithful to his identity as God’s beloved Son, and through his faithfulness God transforms the tree of death into the tree of life. Jesus obedience even unto death transforms the Cross from an symbol of horror to a symbol of grace, forgiveness, mercy, healing and hope.
For John, the cross is the moment of Jesus’ glorification, the fulfillment of God’s plan for Jesus to be lifted up and draw all things to himself. In John’s gospel Jesus is not a victim, he is the King, Jesus chooses freely to die for the people, not because that God needs his sacrifice but because his death is the inevitable result of his life, his ministry and his mission. His proclamation of God’s reign is too threatening to the Roman authorities, the religious leaders see his growing popularity and fear the people will rise up against Rome and the violent might of Rome’s Empire will come crushing down on all the people.
Jesus loved his own to the end. He was faithful to the mission God had given him, to incarnate, literally to bear in frail human flesh. God’s immeasurable love for us and for all creation. Jesus chose to drink the cup the world offered him, the cup of betrayal, injustice and bitter gall. He was faithful to the end, his faithful love led him to the Cross where we hear that final proclamation, It is finished. God’s plan of salvation has been accomplished. There are no more questions for Jesus.
But we find ourselves here, with all too many questions.
Why do the innocent suffer? Why do we still have wars and violence, famine, destruction? If God has saved us, why is our world such a mess?
Our questions echo the words of the Psalmist, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Words said by Jesus on the Cross, and by so many of God’s faithful children throughout the ages.
But the truth is God has not forsaken us, nor the Psalmist, and certainly not Jesus in the hour of suffering. One understanding of the Cross is that In the midst of suffering it can seem that the powers of death and destruction have the last word…. But they do not. Jesus’ story does not end on Good Friday.
Jesus, whom John presents as the Passover lamb, leads us into a new exodus, a new journey to freedom where the powers of death, violence and oppression do not have the last word. The Passover lamb was not a sacrifice for sin, but the one who protected the Israelites from the final plague and convinced Pharoah to free them from bondage.
As followers of Jesus, our journey to salvation, our discovery of all the ways God continues to lead and guide us continues, through the silence of Holy Saturday, the quiet of the Easter garden, the astonishment of the resurrection. So much lies ahead.
Today, we’re invited to stay with the questions, to contemplate the cross and to pray, for all whose lives are full of questions and whose sorrow we see reflected in Jesus’ suffering and death.
Amen+
© Karen Lawler, OEF