Good Friday-March 29, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Jesus says before he gives up his spirit “It is finished.”
“It is finished.”
God became incarnate, became human in Jesus through Mary his mother. Jesus breathed in the air with us, felt the warmth of human touch, tasted the food and drink made of the earth. Jesus taught us to love and serve others. Jesus challenged the injustice of the world – not through violence, but through love.
Jesus saw the ones no one else noticed. Jesus met people where they were – going to places others would not dare. And Jesus felt the scorn of humanity’s capacity to hate, to hurt, to harm, as he died a criminal’s gruesome death on the cross.
What crime had he committed?
The one that angers oppressors the most – the willingness to love one’s enemies, do good to those who harm you, serve the poor, heal the sick, give rest to the weary and suffering – asking nothing in return, and perhaps most of all – letting people know that God loves them unconditionally and for all time.
Love is something tyrants know is dangerous – it changes things. And weapons, no matter how powerful, are useless against it. Armies, no matter how large, can never defeat it.
But tyrants throughout history seem to always think they can be the ones to conquer it, and the Roman governor, Pilate, was no exception. Pilate had Jesus flogged, bound and nailed to the cross, and left to die.
And he did.
Jesus gave up his spirit and died.
In Psalm 22 we heard “Be not far from me, for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.”
It would seem so standing in the shadow of the cross.
Those who have experienced great loss in their lives – you know this deeply. You understand the darkness, the emptiness, the sorrow of this moment.
And yet…
And yet…
Even in this, our darkest hour, we know that this is not the end of the story.
Our Collect on Good Friday – used in ordinations and other transformative moments of the church – rings true: “…let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new.”
Indeed they are.
For we who are weary and suffering in the tomb of our despair over what we see in the world – people cast down by the might of oppression, war, addiction, tragedy of all kinds – this will not be the final place for us.
Because hate will never have the last word.
Love did not die on that cross.
God is not dead.
But what has been cast down will be raised up.
What has grown old will be made new.
This night, this night of the cross, of Jesus’ suffering…this isn’t the end of the story.
It is, however, the chapter we must stay in, if we are to really understand what is coming next. For as we know – that while we who are baptized in his name shall rise with him, the first part of that baptismal journey is to die with him.
So, I invite you to feel the darkness of the moment, feel the loneliness of the Psalmist, feel the grief of those who stood at the foot of the cross.
Let it cause you to tremble, as we hear sung later. Tremble in your very soul.
Because you were there when hate tried to kill love.
You were there when darkness tried to extinguish all light.
You were there when they crucified Jesus.
And because of that – nothing – not you, not those who know you, not the church, not the world, will ever, ever, be the same.
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
March 29, 2024
Good Friday
Psalm 22
Gospel – John 18:1-19:42
