RBWords

     I hope that as many of the Beloved Congregation as  possible can attend the Good Friday services, but, if unable because of the timing or other obstacles, at least read the scriptures, especially the first from Isaiah and the Passion According to John.  If you read Isaiah first, and then the passion, the feeling - at least for me - is different from reading the passion first.  The first way carries the feeling of a great design unfolding over the centuries into which Jesus' life, death and resurrection would eventually take its place.  The second way offers a more personal understanding in that having read the dramatic account that the Gospel of John offers, we can find in Isaiah a way of describing what we have just read.  

     The passages from Isaiah I quoted above struck me because of the word, "servant."  Throughout his ministry as described in the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of not doing his own will but the will of the one who sent him.  His determination to undergo whatever would happen is not a matter of gritted teeth but of confidence and understanding.  This shows in his reply to Pilate's question, "Then you are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."  Jesus shows himself the servant of the ultimate truth that "the Word became flesh and dwelled among us."  All that happens in the passion account is in service of that truth.  The crucified Jesus becomes the risen Christ, but when we kiss the cross at the Good Friday service, we kiss a humble servant and know what real love is.  AMEN