Good Friday 2015

On Good Friday, 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. In John’s telling of the Gospel, Jesus never flinches. He faces off with soldiers, the chief priests, and Pilate without having to raise 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 to know that even during moments of evil, God is still working. 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.

Also 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. This explains some of the language used in this telling of the Gospel. Now people who came along much later used the depiction of the 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. And this, of course, is not a Jewish problem, this is a human problem. It is our problem. It is why we gather around the cross now to hear again this mystery: that in this darkest of days/nights, God draws nearest to us.

It’s not a time for us to pretend that Easter isn’t coming. This is not a time for us to try and make ourselves feel bad. For anyone who has experienced the senselessness of suffering and loss — there is enough of that going around. This is a time, instead, to take a cue from those early disciples and gather around the cross. This is a time to hear again the Good News: that even in loss, even in suffering, and even in death, God is with us to the very end.