Word to the Wise
Friday, March 25, 2016 - Good Friday of the Lord's Passion - ABC
[Isa 52:13-53:12; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42]"Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!" [John]
A crucifixion is not a pretty sight. It was the cruelest form of capital punishment that the Romans could administer and was reserved for those who rebelled against Roman rule. Those who have seen the movie, THE PASSION, with its gory depiction still did not see what the real scene would be like. I have seen a number of studies by physicians about the physical and emotional elements of the event, and they are numbing in their detail. Why would such a death be wished on anyone? Today we wish it on Jesus when we say out loud during the reading of the Passion According to John: Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!"
We may respond, "Well, we're just re-enacting for liturgical purposes!" If we do that, we are denying that Christ died for us - that we have no responsibility for that terrible death. But....we do. The incredible scripture from Isaiah makes it clear: Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitted by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. He did this for us!
The calendar adds an irony today. March 25th is usually the feast of the Annunciation in which we celebrate the beginning of Jesus' human existence in Mary's womb. This year it becomes the day we celebrate his death. His entire life was given for us and not just the moment of his death. If we attend the Good Friday service and kiss the cross, we remember not just what Jesus did for us, but what we must do for others. The cross is not simply a symbol of a past event but the symbol of Christianity. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. AMEN
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