Good Friday; John 18:1-19:42; St. Paul’s, 3/28/2018

Jim Melnyk: “Truth Will Rise”

As I stand before you in this place, on this most holy day, it occurs to me that Good Friday should challenge each of us to decide what we believe, and what this day means for us.

I believe that in Jesus, God came among us – and comes among us still – in an incredibly unique and life-changing, world-changing, way.  I don’t pretend to be able to explain how or why that is, beyond the love of God for God’s creation.  St. Julian of Norwich said it so well, “And so I saw full surely that before ever God made us, [God] loved us.  And this love was never quenched nor ever shall be.”  And again she wrote, “Would you know [our] Lord’s meaning in this?  Learn it well.  Love was [God's] meaning.  Who showed it you?  Love.  What did [God] show you?  Love.  Why did [God] show you?  For love.... Thus did I learn that love was our Lord's meaning” (Enfolded in Love: Daily Readings with Julian of Norwich, p. 59-60).

Now I realize there are all kinds of competing theologies out there as to why this day happened in the life of Jesus – in the life of this world.  And while I realize it happened in a little-known, little-considered, corner of the world so long ago, it is to me the most compelling, powerful story of history.

Despite theologies that claim differently, I do not believe God decreed from the beginning of time that Jesus needed to die on the cross.  I do not believe that God, or the devil, or anyone for that matter, had to be paid off to free us from our sin – though I do believe we enslave ourselves to sin – sometimes without a second thought.  I don't believe that blood which is shed by human hands – either animal or human blood – Jesus' in particular – somehow appeases God and causes or allows God to accept us.  I do believe this world needed to be – and still needs to be – shaken from its selfish complacency.  Can you read the Internet, the daily paper or watch the news and not believe that?

I believe that Jesus, knowing full well what his revolutionary message of justice, peace and love would mean for his life, stayed the course – preached the Good News of God to people desperate for hope, and to those whose lives would be shaken to the core by the Gospel’s inclination to turn the status quo on its ear (or on its rear).  I believe that Jesus willingly, knowingly, proclaimed a Gospel that would end up demanding his life at the hands of those who stood to lose the most by the inbreaking of God’s kingdom on earth.  And so in a way, I guess, I believe Good Friday – given the nature of power in this world – was, indeed, inevitable.  The moment Jesus began to proclaim the Dream of God – a dream of justice, a dream of inclusion, a dream of radical welcome, of peace, and of God's love – the moment Jesus first opened his mouth, whether in the synagogue in his home town or along Galilee's shore, he became a marked man, and his life was forfeit on behalf of the kingdom of God.

I’d like to think that I could willingly, knowingly, go to my death to save the people I love the most – but I just don’t know for sure.

I find it incredible that a person – that Jesus – would willingly go to the cross to teach us the immeasurable love of God – and I believe that’s exactly what he did.  I find it incredible – but know it to be true somewhere deep within my heart – that along with Jesus, God suffered exceedingly in the midst of this awful, and awe-filled, day.  Just as I believe that God, because of the unique nature of Jesus, and God's timeless love for us, I believe that God suffers with us in the midst of our own pain and sorrow in life.  That is part of the gift of Jesus’ sojourn among us.

I can’t pretend to understand fully why we suffer as we do in our lives.  I think it has something to do with God giving creation its own freedom and its own integrity.  When we, as human beings, chose to exercise our gift of free will, God basically said to us, “Folks, we’re all in this together now.  You have chosen to exercise the ability to choose.  I will be with you – but I will not take your freedom away from you.  Choose wisely.  Choose life.  But be assured I will be with you whatever you choose.”

Would you willingly, knowingly, die for your loved ones?  Would you willingly, knowingly, die for someone you don’t even know?  I’m not sure how truthfully I can answer that question beyond an anxious, “I hope so.”  But that is what Jesus did.  As Jesus tells his disciples the night before his death, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Notice, but don’t get all caught up in the pageantry of kings and governors in today's Gospel story.  Notice, but don’t get sidetracked by the ridicule of what amounts to a kangaroo court.  Don’t fail to miss the anti-Semitic bias of John’s Gospel, or what looks like a nod on the Evangelist's part to gain Rome’s favor by excusing Pilate from his part in this tragedy.  The truth is that Jesus is executed on this day.  Jesus is crucified by an unholy alliance of religion, politics, and economic self-interest.  It’s the politics of Pilate and Rome.  It’s the economic self-interest of Herod and his court.  It’s the resolve of a religious aristocracy that now serves at the whim of Rome.

All that aside – and all that is important – but all that aside, remember a young man who brings Good News to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, release to the captives, freedom to the oppressed, and who proclaims the year of God’s favor for all who had been disenfranchised by the power brokers of their day.  Remember a young man who came among his people in the power of the Spirit of God to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom – a communion of peace, of justice, of inclusion, of love.  Remember, as abolitionist Theodore Parker once proclaimed and Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

This Good News – this Gospel – is what we were born to proclaim.  In the midst of death, we proclaim life.  In the midst of the many evils of this world – both great and small – we proclaim the grace of God, the peace of Christ, the power of love, and the hope of resurrection power in our very lives this day.

“Son of man,” God asked the prophet Ezekiel long ago, “Son of Man, can these bones – these dried up, dead, lifeless, dusty, cracked and broken bones – can these bones live?”  Yes! The answer is “Yes!”  Time and again our God proclaims, “Yes!”  Our dried up, aching, dusty, cracked and broken bones can live again! 

For a brief moment on this day – this day we call Good Friday – for a brief moment the powers of the world win, and the love of God hangs lifeless – suspended between heaven and earth.  But it is only for a moment in time – a moment in time that calls us back into the heart and the dream of God for this world.  For even nailed to a cross, or crushed to the earth, God’s truth will rise – God’s love will win the day. (based on the words of MLK, Jr quoting William Cullen Bryant and James Russell Lowell)