Good Friday 2014

BASE HEADER LEVEL: 2

Tonight we draw near to the cross by telling the story of the Passion from the Gospel of John. There is a balance to this. On this darkest day on the Christian calendar, as we approach the lowest point in human history, the Gospel of John, more so than any other, reminds us that even in death — Jesus is Lord and King. John’s passion emphasizes that at what seems like rock bottom, Jesus has overcome evil with good. John’s Jesus never flinches. He faces off with soldiers, the chief priests, Pilate without raising a finger. He carries his own cross. He allows himself to die. We hear this not to prove that Jesus was a really macho guy, but we hear this because when the Gospel of John was recorded, later than the other Gospels, the disciples more clearly understood that the Way of the Cross was God’s plan to save the world. By the time John’s Gospel was recorded there had been a break between Jewish people who accepted the story of Christ and those that did not. Those that did not are who John simply calls, The Jews. Now people who came along much later used the depiction of Jews in John’s Gospel to discriminate against an entire race of people. That is not what is meant here. A Jew and a follower of Christ in John’s Gospel could have been brother and sister. A father and a son. When you hear, the Jews in John’s Gospel — think: those that resisted the Way of the Cross. This is not a Jewish problem, this is a human problem. It is our problem. It is why we gather around the cross tonight to hear again this mystery: that in this darkest of nights, God draws nearest to us.