April 10 - Good Friday

Good for Who?
John 18-19
Good Friday – April 10, 2009

Why do we call it “Good Friday”? I remember asking this question of someone from my church sometime when I was in late elementary school or junior high. With all that happens on this day, I couldn't wrap my mind around how we could possibly call it “good”.

How could it be good when Judas, one of Jesus' dear friends, one of his inner circle, led a bunch of soldiers out to arrest him? How could it be good when he was bound and taken to stand trial before the high priest? How could it be good when his followers abandoned and denied him?
How could it be good when Jesus was interrogated and flogged and crowned with thorns?

How could it be good when he was mocked and struck and rejected by his own people who called for Pilate to crucify him? How could it be good when he was handed over and made to carry his own cross out to the Place of the Skull? How could it be good when he was crucified, hung on that cross between two others? How could we call Good Friday “good” when this is the day that Jesus died?

We who love Jesus call this day “good”, but it is a hard day. We come to worship, and we hear the story of Jesus' Passion, and it is all too easy to put ourselves into the story. We know that we could easily take the place of Peter or Judas or Pilate. We could be the chief priests and the Pharisees; we could take the place of one of the Roman soldiers. In our heart of hearts, we know that we are part of this conspiracy to commit murder; we know that we are complicit in all of the events that led to his execution. And so we come to this place tonight with heavy hearts, grieving over our own role in the events of Good Friday that led to Jesus' death on a cross; we come mourning the loss of the One who loves us better than anyone else ever could.

But despite all of these things, we dare to call this Friday good because we know and believe that what Jesus did on the cross was for us. In dying, Jesus accomplished what he was sent here to do. He came to bridge the gap that exists between human beings and God. He came to make a way across the great divide we created by our rebellion and resistance to the God who created us. He came to reveal how very much God loves us & the whole world and wants to heal us and make us whole. It is there on the cross that we see how far God was willing to go to redeem us, to repair the relationship that we destroyed and could never fix on our own.

We dare to call this day good because Jesus chose this path. Here in John's gospel, Jesus is in control from the very beginning to the very end. Nothing happens by chance. There in the garden, Jesus knew what was about to happen, and when Judas comes with a huge crowd of soldiers with their lanterns and torches and weapons, Jesus comes forward to meet them. “Whom are you looking for?” he asks them. He asks them! And when they step back & fall to the ground in response, that would've been a great time for him to hightail it out of there and escape – but instead, he asks them again “Whom are you looking for?” Through everything that happens on this night and into the next day, Jesus is not just some victim caught up in events beyond his control; he is the initiator! Even the moment of his death is at his choosing. Knowing that he has completed the work he was sent here to do, Jesus bows his head & gives up his spirit.

And so even as we come here tonight filled with holy sorrow, we are also filled with reverent awe and joy, amazed at what Jesus was willing to do for us – for you and for me and for the entire world. The control and power that sin and death had over us, all of the things that would separate us from God are gone – they're finished, just as Jesus said. Already on this night, we feel the beginnings of celebration and rejoicing, because we know that Jesus' death on the cross means salvation for us all. Thanks be to God!

Amen.