1st Reading on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 – (Good Friday) - John 19:23-27
What can be said about this passage, and these 1st of the last words of Jesus? What in the world was Mary thinking and feeling as she watched this scene playing out? When Mary and Joseph took Jesus for his presentation to the temple, Simeon spoke to Mary. His words were prophetic, they were a warning, and they helped give Mary insight as well. He said, “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
“…and a sword will pierce your own soul too”. Mary is feeling the sword at that very instant. She knows that all this is part of God’s plan of salvation. She is honored to have been an instrument of that plan and she looks at Jesus with pride. Though tortured herself to witness all this, she is present to give strength and support to her son. In a very real sense, Mary is being crucified too. What could be more painful than watching your own flesh, your own child being tortured? Yet, Mary stands by.
Mary’s witness gives us courage to oppose the injustices of this world and this life. Mary is there whenever the innocent are tortured for opposing injustice – when students in Tehran are beaten and bullied for crying out for free speech. Mary is there in Burma when the junta keeps the leader of the opposition under house arrest. Mary is there in our own country when our justice system fails.
Her vigil stand as a witness of patient devotion to support what is right and what is good. May we follow Mary to the cross that God shows us. May we stand in opposition to tyranny as she did.
2nd Reading on Good Friday – (Good Friday) - John 19:28-29
The grisly thing about crucifixion is not only the pain of having your skin pierced by nails, but also the exposure to the sun and the heat. Jerusalem is in the Mediterranean basin and by mid-day it is hot, really hot. Crucifixion was reserved for the lowest people on the Roman social ladder – only slaves and people who were perceived to be enemies of the Roman state. Roman citizens were beheaded – death came quickly, instantly, mercifully. Crucifixion was designed to torture, to impose the maximum amount of pain and suffering. Death by crucifixion was to be a non-verbal message to anyone who threatened Roman power – “don’t even think about it because this could happen to you”.
The crucified were normally stripped naked. This was done for two reasons: to maximize the exposure to the sun and to humiliate. Jewish people were very modest and were always covered. The goal was to intensify suffering and anguish, both physical and emotional. Jesus body temperature was horrible. He came into the world rejected, there was no place for him so he was born in humiliation in a barn, laid in a manger with straw, instead of sheets – with all the ticks and insects that inhabit such places. He died on a cross – the social equivalent of his earlier rejection. Yet by stooping to the lowest level, God’s grace covers everyone – slaves, criminals, social rejects of all manner and stripe. Grace for one, grace for all.
The Roman soldier gives Jesus vinegar. You can’t drink vinegar. It was to mock him and increase his pain. Jesus knew thirst.
Ironically, the same Roman soldier pierces his side with a spear. Blood and water came out – probably the edema from his swollen body. From the “riven” side of Jesus, a fountain. Remember how the Samaritan woman was told by Jesus that if she knew who it was that was talking to her he would have given her living water? St. Paul talks about Moses striking the rock in the wilderness to provide water for the thirsty Hebrew nomads, refuges from Pharaoh’s slavery, and Paul says “And the rock was Christ”.
Rock of ages, cleft for all of us, pouring out living water for a dying world, draining of life to give eternal life to the undeserving. Magnificent grace, Amazing mercy.
3rd Reading on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 – (Good Friday) - Luke 23:32-38
“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”
One of the odd things about going to seminary is the amount of esoteric knowledge you have to absorb and digest. My very first semester I had to take a course called “The Church’s Creeds”. We had to memorize and be able to describe all the many heresies of human history regarding Jesus.
Heresy conjures up a picture of the inquisition and burning people at the stake, but it simply means error or wrong teaching. Trying to talk about the meaning of how Jesus is both true God and true human inevitable leads down the pathway of error.
One heresy worth mentioning on Good Friday is one called docetism. This heresy suggests that Jesus simply appeared to be human but was really divine and only divine. Divine beings cannot suffer, therefore Jesus passion and suffering for us wasn’t real at all.
On the contrary, Jesus really felt the pain of his crucifixion. Being mocked and taunted by his executioners and the thief beside him aroused passion and feelings. The crown of thorns dug into his flesh and hurt. Being betrayed by Judas even though he knew it would happen was soul destroying for Jesus just as it is when we are betrayed by a friend of ours. If you have ever been really hurt by someone, you’ll know how hard it is to forgive them. It is work. It takes energy. Most of the time it requires prayer and the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
How can you forgive the people who are crucifying you? That to me is one of the greatest mysteries of this mysterious night; Jesus forgiving his torturers and us their descendants in the midst of the pain.
Last year, Eliza my daughter and I went to Rome. Naturally we went to the Vatican. In the vast art collection of the Vatican is a portrait of Jesus on the cross with a view of one of the thieves. Unlike almost all other pictures of the crucifixion that are dark and foreboding, filled with shadows and gloom, this portrait of Jesus is in pastels. It is very incongruous, strange. I’ve been processing the event of seeing it ever since. I stared and stared at it. Eliza became impatient with me. “Dad, let’s go, there‘s a lot more here”.
I was transfixed. Poured into this picture of the most gruesome event in human history – that human beings killed the very God who was trying to save them – were the colors of heaven, the colors of light.
Jesus you are the light of the world. The light no darkness not even our “sin – sickness” can overcome.
4th Reading on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 – (Good Friday) - Luke 23:39-43
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
By tradition, this criminal hanging on the cross has been called St. Dysmas. Tradition depicts him as a thief. We don’t really know, the Greek word states “criminal”. Crucifixion was reserved for the ones Rome wanted to make an example of. Rebellions slaves and nationalists like Barabbas whom Pontius Pilate freed were prime candidates for the cross. Perhaps this criminal had led a rebellion against Rome. Maybe he was a slave who got tired of the abuse he suffered and murdered his owner in his sleep. We can conjecture but we don’t know.
The important thing about this man is that he somehow knew that Jesus was innocent. He was moved by compassion for Jesus. He doesn’t confess Jesus as Messiah directly like the mocking criminal does; yet he somehow recognizes God in Jesus’ presence and he asks for mercy. “Jesus remember me, when you come into your kingdom. There is that tricky word “kingdom” again. Let’s rephrase it using reign which is a better translation. The man is really saying. “When you reign give me life, give me peace”. He is asking for the forgiveness of God. He is reaching out in faith to the only one who can give him any hope at this point in his own dying.
We Lutherans teach that we can not save ourselves by our obedience or our good worlds. This man has no claim on Jesus, he simply asks for mercy and pardon. He reaches out in faith to Christ, expressing his remorse and sorrow knowing that he has been justly condemned. Still he clings to the hope that God is merciful.
Jesus answers him
“Death is not the end for you, nor the end of you. God is compassionate, gracious, kind; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”.
“You have a future sinful man”.
“You all have a future”.
5th Reading on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 – (Good Friday) - John 19:30
“It is finished”.
Jesus says “It is finished”.
“It”, grammatically, is a pronoun. Pronouns always refer to what is grammatically known as an antecedent. What is the antecedent, the “what comes before”, in this case. What is the “it” Jesus refers to?
Jesus may mean, “My life is finished, I am finished. I am used up, I will be no more. The “it” can, of course, refer to his life. Yet the “it” can also refer to his work, his purpose, his intention for becoming human in the first place. The gospel of John begins with that beautiful amazing hymn: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not over come it.”
There’s that “it” again. The darkness did not overcome the “it”, the forces of evil, negation, sin, all that causes mayhem and harm in the world – all these have been overcome by him who is the light.
“It is finished”. Salvation is finished, salvation is complete. A whole new world order has been created. That’s why the ancients of the church called Sunday the 8th day of creation. It was on Easter that the realm of new creation was begun. Jesus finished creation so that we could never be “finished”. St. Paul says “He died once for all”. Jesus “does in” death Jesus “finished” finishing.
When a house is constructed, they have one person in charge of putting on all the finishing touches. They call this guy the “punch out” guy. The one who finishes. Jesus finishes the house of love that God has built and invites us in. “In my father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself…” John 14
The way to God is finished by him who is the way, the truth and the life. What has come into being in him is life…” eternal life, eternal life, eternal life….
6th Reading on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 – (Good Friday) - Luke 23: 44-47
I always find hearing these words terribly wrenching. “Clouds hide the sun and darkness covers the whole land”. The earth reflects the pain of heaven. God came to earth to show us how to live and how to love, and we kill him for it. The curtain in the temple was torn in two.
That curtain was quite significant. Behind the curtain was kept the “holy of holies” – the ark of the covenant. Not the original one but a replica. It was considered God’s dwelling place on earth. Of course the Jews knew that God occupied all space. But human beings set apart holy spaces out of reverence.
When I was a little guy, the altar was set apart by a rail. The space was so holy that no one but the pastor and an acolyte were allowed behind it. I remember being a bit worried about going behind the rail when I first became an acolyte. What if I dropped the tray of used communion vessels? I remember the story of the man who touched the ark of the covenant and was struck dead. Stories like that stick with a little kid.
The rending of the curtain is done by God of course. Formerly, the holy of holies was so set apart that only the High Priest was allowed to go behind the curtain. They even tied a rope to his foot so that if he dropped dead in there, no one would have to enter to get him out. Once a year, on the day of atonement, the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and came out and actually spoke the name of God – “Jahweh”. It was the holiest moment of the annual Hebrew calendar. God was in his name.
By rending the temple curtain, God put the divine name out into the world. The divine name is Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us. God is no longer hidden behind a curtain, no space is sacred nor profane. In dying for us as one of us, God in Christ makes all space sacred. God is not just in the temple, but in our workplace, our playspace, and our homes.
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