Good Friday, April 15, 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
“Why is this night different than all other nights?”
This is what our Jewish sisters and brothers are asking this first night of Passover, which this year coincides with Good Friday. Jesus and all his disciples were Jewish, and would have been preparing for this important feast. Yet, to be clear, the last supper, which we remembered last night was not a Passover meal, as Jesus was, by the Gospel of John we just heard, more likely crucified on the day of preparation – when the lambs were slaughtered for the Passover meal – which occurs prior to the start of Passover. The lamb of God was slaughtered then too.
There is also a movement in the larger church to respond to the cry of our Jewish sisters and brothers who are demonized in this fourth Gospel, which we read tonight. Many are abandoning this version of events, which includes references to “The Jews” throughout – far more so than any of the synoptics of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, (as though Jesus and all his followers weren’t Jewish). In centuries past, Jews were murdered by Christians following Good Friday services, and even today, the sting of anti-Semitism found in this gospel rings out for us to atone for our own sins. Here we change the language, but still use the fourth gospel, though that may change too in years to come.
I point all of this out to say that we hold our Jewish sisters and brothers in prayer and wish them a blessed and happy Passover. We also ask their forgiveness for our sins through the centuries against them, on this night of Good Friday most especially, and for the cultural misappropriation of so-called “Christian Seders.”
And now to something we have just heard tonight in scripture – something that likely resonated with us through this long time of pandemic, war, and oppression:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
These words from Psalm 22, a scripture that Jesus, being a good and faithful Jew, would have known since childhood, were on his lips and heart in his final moments – though not in the Gospel of John read tonight. It is in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, where Jesus is heard crying out this verse before giving over his spirit.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
While he did not utter the next line of the Psalm, we heard it tonight.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; by night as well, but I find no rest.”
How many have felt this deep pain?
How many have cried out and felt alone in grief?
These are words we truly understand.
And yet, they were not the final verses of that psalm…no, within those last verses we hear: “For you do not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither do you hide your face from them; but when they cry, you hear them… My soul shall live for you; my descendants shall serve you; they shall be known as yours for ever. They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that you have done.”
And Jesus knew those words of this Psalm too.
There are times in our lives when it is this opening of Psalm 22 that feels most close to our hearts too. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; by night as well, but I find no rest.”
And in those moments, it can seem impossible to imagine the turning that takes place in that Psalm, or for that matter, on Easter. The darkness of the tomb overshadows us, and the weight of it is unbearable, as we stand at the foot of the cross.
These might be personal Good Fridays caused by events in our lives that knock the very breath of life out of us – divorce, death of someone we love, loss of a job, illness, abuse, depression…Or it could be Good Fridays of our world – war, famine, disease, poverty, oppression, disasters, violence in our streets and in our hearts. Certainly in this long time of pandemic, when, as I noted last night, we have felt betrayed and denied – the sting of grief, isolation, loneliness, and despair overtaking us – has been one long Good Friday moment for us all.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – a feeling shared by so many all around the world, perhaps even by some of you here tonight. And that is okay.
We all have these moments in our lives, and Good Friday invites us into that space, into that darkness, or joins us there, so that we might know, as Jesus did, that we are not forsaken, but deeply, deeply, loved.
Good Friday brings the church, the body of Christ, all of us, to the darkest moment of our faith…and it is important to linger here. To embrace the darkness, the weight of the shadow of the cross. Why? Why would we do this, or want this with so much pain in our lives and in the world?
Because “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is NOT the last word.
Because we know that God does hear our cry.
Because we know that Easter will come.
And because of that, we know we will also say “My soul shall live for you; my descendants shall serve you; they shall be known as yours for ever. They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that you have done.”
As ones who walk this triduum journey with Jesus, we know that there is no darkness that His light cannot overcome, no life that is not stronger than death. We know too that all Good Fridays are temporary, even if it is hard sometimes to imagine it – and that most of all – we do not journey through them alone. We are not forsaken, we are loved. God is with us at the cross on Good Friday – this one with Jesus, and all the ones in our lives and in the world.
Because you all are here tonight, embracing the darkness of Good Friday, the light that is to come will shine all the brighter, and mean so much more. And perhaps, in those Good Friday moments of your future, you will be able to look back on this night and draw strength from remembering the power of God’s love for you – yes you! – and for all the world.
And then your heart will truly sing of the saving deeds of God in your life.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
April 15, 2022
Good Friday
Psalm 22
Gospel – John 18:1-19:42
