Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I’ve
always found Good Friday to be the holiest day on which to preach, meaning that
writing the Good Friday sermon can be a challenge. The cultural assumptions are
nearly insurmountable, the theology is quite complex, and the readings are very
long. One theologian has noted that a mystery is not a problem without a
solution, but rather a reality in which the more we know, the more we are
forced to rethink all that we know. In this sense of the word, Good Friday is
most definitely a mystery.
The
modern-day spiritual writer, Richard Rohr, has said that “Jesus did not come to
change the mind of God about humanity (as it did not need changing); Jesus came
to change the mind of humanity about God.” If you want to spend the next decade
doing nothing but reading books about the meaning of the cross, you wouldn’t
run out of material to read. I find the theology of the cross to be among the
most interesting theological waters in which to swim. But the cross was never
as much an event to understand as it was an event to transform us and the world
in which we live. St. Francis of Assisi is reported to have one prayed “Grant
me two things, O Lord: to feel the suffering of your Passion, and to know the
love that drove you to endure such pains.” That prayer might be the best
approach to Good Friday- seeking to know the love of the cross.
The
cross certainly accomplished a lot of things, you might want to talk about
victory over death, forgiveness of sin, solidarity with the persecuted, steadfastness
to mission. And those would all be very good topics to consider today. However,
this Good Friday, I’d like to focus on the way in which the cross unites those
around it. In the lead up to the events of the Passion, in chapter 17 of John,
Jesus, on three separate occasions prays “that they all may be one.” As Jesus
faces his impending death, his thoughts are not “how can I get out of this?” or
“what will my legacy be?”. Instead, Jesus focuses on unity.
The
cross unites Christians together. Some Christians think the world was created
5,000 years ago, that the Bible is inerrant, and only those who call on the
name of Jesus will avoid eternal damnation. Meanwhile, other Christians claim
that Jesus was not divine, but rather a holy prophet, and that religious truths
are all subjective. And most of us fall somewhere between those two extremes.
But yet for all of us, the cross is our symbol. There are roughly 41,000
different Christian denominations in the world today, a far cry from Jesus’
prayer that we might all be one. There may not be much overlap in liturgy or
theology between these various groups, but the cross is what binds us all
together. Now, we might not agree on what the cross stands for, but we all
claim it. That which unites us is stronger than that which threatens to divide
us. The cross conquered Rome, hatred, fear, and death, and, God willing, one
day, it will conquer our divisions. As we gather this most holy Friday around
the cross, may it unite us through the Love that was once nailed to it.
The
next element of unity that we find on Good Friday is the way in which the cross
united the Temple leadership and the Roman leaders. In the first century Temple
leadership, as it exists everywhere, there were differences of opinions on
matters of theology and worship. The Pharisees and the Sadducees did not always
agree. Even within their ranks there was not total agreement on what it meant
to follow the Torah or live a holy life. And of course, there were often
clashes between the Jewish leadership and the occupying forces of Rome. There
were revolts and insurrectionists. But on that Good Friday, they all came
together for a common purpose.
Sure,
that purpose was the murder of man who did not deserve to be put to death, but
still, the cross brought them together when nothing else could. The cross shows
us the truth of that phrase, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Perhaps it
didn’t bring lasting peace to Israel or the Temple, but at least for one day,
these enemies were made friends by the cross.
The question then
becomes, how can we shift this from unity against Jesus to unity with and for Jesus?
Throughout the gospels, Jesus makes it clear that his mission is about lifting
up the lowly. The prophet Isaiah wrote “See, my servant shall prosper; he shall
be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who
were astonished at him - so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals - so he shall startle many nations; kings
shall shut their mouths because of him… he had no form or majesty that we
should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was
despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with
infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we
held him of no account.”
I do need to add a
disclaimer, as Good Friday has a very dark history of anti-Semitism. We should
not read Isaiah as a prediction of Jesus. Jesus did not suffer on the cross
because Isaiah said that he would. Instead, the Servant of Israel became an
archetypal character in Israel’s theology. When people wrote the gospels, they
certainly saw in Jesus the fulfillment of this model, but we do harm to our
Jewish brothers and sisters, to Isaiah, to all of the Old Testament, and to
ourselves when we simplify such writings as simply “predictions” about Jesus.
Judaism is not simply the appetizer to the main course of Christianity, but
that is how it is often treated. With that in mind, let’s move on.
What we see in Isaiah is
that God has a proclivity for working through the lowly. Perhaps it is that
their lack of an ego leaves more room for God to work, or maybe it is because
they are not weighed down with the agendas of the world, but either way, God
works in unexpected ways. No one thought that Jesus could be the Messiah, he
was too meek and lowly. And, everyone thought that his death was clear evidence
that he was not anything more than a rebel-rousing criminal. And in this
assumption, the cross brought the Temple and Rome together. The cross can bring
those of us with different allegiances and agendas together as well. As we see
on this day, we can come together for evil, or we can instead come together and
look for God in the unexpected places. We can, instead, serve the least of
these and in doing so, find the presence of God.
The next element of unity
in the cross is found in the way in which, even as he is dying, that Jesus
created community. John writes “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom
he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’
Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the
disciple took her into his own home.” In the cross, acquaintances become
family. Here, we see that the cross has a practical element to it. It is not
just that the cross is about the big-picture and universal salvation, but there
are implications for today.
Mary, the mother of
Jesus, had needs. We don’t know what happened to him, but her husband, Joseph,
is no longer around. Our best guess is that he either died from illness or at
the hands of the occupying Roman military, but Mary had no husband to protect
and provide for her. Jesus also knows that the beloved disciple will deeply
mourn his death and knows that he will need support to go on. And so the cross
of Jesus unites those in need. As much as we talk about theological salvation,
in the cross we also find practical salvation.
The modern-day prophet,
Martin Luther King, spoke of the “beloved community.” This is a global vision
in which all people share in the wealth of the earth. Issues such as poverty,
hunger, discrimination, injustice, violence, and hatred vanish because of the
spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood that form this beloved community. This beloved
community was founded at the cross. As we walk the way of the cross as
disciples of Jesus, a community of love is formed, and that community, that
Body of Christ, has the resources and the power to make sure that everyone is
taken care of. The cross unites us, become from it, Jesus redefines us not just
as members of the same church or citizens of the same city, but as family.
And finally, the cross
allows anyone to come to it. At the end of the reading from John, two
interesting people show up to care for the body of Jesus- Nicodemus and Joseph
of Arimathea. You’ll recall that in John 3, Nicodemus shows up at night to ask
Jesus about being born again. But here, he shows up, not under the cloak of
darkness, but in the light of day. Likewise, John says that Joseph was a secret
disciple of Jesus, but here he is, making his allegiance known. Wherever you
are in your journey of faith, the cross invites you to come. If you have more
questions than answers, come. If your doubt is stronger than your beliefs,
come. If you are more of a skeptic than a believer, come. If you have more fear
than courage, come. If you have more pain than health, come. If you have more
ego than humility, come. If you have more sin than repentance, come. If you
have more certainty than faith, come. Come one and come all. The cross brings
all kinds of people to it. In the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, Roman
soldiers, Temple authorities, curious bystanders, secret disciples, mourning
women, and faithful followers all gather around the cross. Whoever you are,
whatever your story, the cross welcomes you to join the beloved community.
In John 12, Jesus says “And
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” And
that is exactly what happens in the cross. The cross unites Christians of all
sorts, it turns enemies into friends, it creates the beloved community, and it
invites us to come as we are. May the cross continue to unite us and draw us
closer to the love of God that allowed Jesus to endure those sufferings. May
the cross form us more fully into the beloved community, being united to each
other in reverence for the cross and in love. And, in the cross, may Jesus’
prayer be fulfilled- that we all may be one. Amen.
