Good Friday – April 3rd,
2015
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
How quickly we will wring our hands. How quickly we will lament how harsh and
unfair our lives are, how mean things happen to us. How quickly we will blame our problems upon
other people. So often we will assume
that our lives would just be so much better if it weren’t for. . .him. . . if
she wasn’t like that. If those folks
weren’t like that, if they didn’t have power.
As children we quickly learn to cry out, “It’s not fair” – and even as
we grow, we repeat the refrain on and on.
We learn to shout out, “it’s not my fault” when blame gets passed onto
us. And sometimes, perhaps, we are
right. Many times, we aren’t. We just duck and dive our
responsibility. How quickly we will complain
and lament what happens to us. And yet,
behold your Lord and Savior Christ Jesus this night on His Passion. There He had been in the Garden of Gethsemane,
gone to pray. And what happens? His friend, His companion, Judas, betrays
Him. Sells Him out to the Romans. Would not Christ be right to complain of
this? Would not He have been justified
in screaming, “This isn’t fair – I was simply going to pray – and now look at what
My friend has done – He has stabbed me in the back!” But He doesn’t. What happens to Him, the unfairness of it no
longer concerns Him. Instead, when the
servant of the high priest, poor Malchus, gets his ear cut off by a
rambunctious Peter – Jesus sees it and heals it. Let me fix the unfair thing you have
suffered.
Our
Lord is taken off then, arrested, and there He goes. Led in the middle of the night to stand
before men who want His blood, want His head.
Do His friends come with Him? Do
they support Him, encourage Him, defend Him?
No, John follows Him in, but we hear nothing from Him – no passionate
defense of Christ - no dramatic cries of “You have an innocent man!” And then in the courtyard, even far away from
the action, simply out in front of the servants, in front of people who have no
power to hurt him, even Peter denies Christ.
To have John, the disciple whom You love, stand silent while you are
accused, and that’s the kindest thing any of your friends do? Some besmirch you, forsake you. And yet – no complaining from our Lord.
Before the High Priest, Christ says that He has taught
publicly, that He has no secret teachings – that they all know what He has
proclaimed, and even implies that they know that it is true. For this, He is struck, slapped. Why?
He spoke no falsehood. But there
is no apology, instead He is bound and herded off like a common criminal. He is taken before Pilate, before the
Roman governor. It is hard for us to
imagine what this would be like. Rome was an occupying
power – it would be like a southerner in the Civil War being dragged by other
southerners to a Union General – it would be humiliating and insulting. His accusers couldn’t, wouldn’t even enter
Pilate’s home – but they shove Christ in.
You take Him, Pilate, and you put Him to death, because that is what we
want. And yet, still no complaint.
And then Pilate questions Jesus, grills Him – and Jesus
answers calmly and truthfully – shows the governing authority that He is
innocent. Pilate says that He finds no
guilt in Him. Yet, does Pilate do his job
of protecting Christ? No. Pilate caves to pressure – orders Him to be
crucified at the whim of the crowd.
Releases a murder and a robber – a heinous criminal that everyone knew
was rotten gets released – and there is Christ, still set for death. But then Pilate thinks of a plan – maybe if I
beat Him, maybe if I brutalize Him, then the people will have pity upon Him,
maybe then the mob will no longer want His blood. And so the soldiers come, they place the
crown of thorns upon His head, and flog Him.
And consider this – this abuse, this flogging at the order of Pilate –
this is the kindest thing done to Christ that day. How is that for a day – where literally the
kindest thing a person does is beat You bloody so that people might have pity
upon You?
To no avail. The crowds,
Christ’s own kin, His own people, still call for His blood. And Pilate tries to convince the crowd – but
they even go so far as to call out, “We have no king but Caesar.” Rank heresy, there was nothing worse for a
Jew to say. God was to be Israel’s
King – but the hatred is so enflamed, so impassioned, that they would rather
claim Caesar as their own than see Christ go free. It would be as though your entire town joined
a terrorist group, or invited ISIS in to take
them over, just to see you dead. And
yet, Christ doesn’t rail or rave.
And they take Him – hand Him His own cross and tell Him to
start walking. This would be like
forcing you to tie your own noose, or to run on a giant hamster wheel to
generate the electricity that is going to run through the chair that kills
you. And then, He is crucified – nailed
to the cross as we are told in other accounts.
Left to hang naked and exposed and beaten and flayed out in the open
air. And what does He see there? Men gambling for His belongings. Crowds that jeer Him. His mother left to watch with horror and
revulsion. And yet, Christ does not cry
out, “This isn’t fair, this isn’t right!”
He doesn’t spew forth hatred. No
– He shows forth love. John – care for
My mother when I am gone. And then, after
a few hours there exposed, Our Lord says, “It is finished” and breathes His
last – gives up His Spirit.
It’s not fair. Not
in the slightest. The truly innocent
Christ Jesus is brutalized and dies, His blood is shed for no legal reason, no
moral reason. He has done nothing wrong. So then, why do we gather here today, why do
we call this day Good Friday, when we see such horrors inflicted upon Christ? Precisely because it is not fair. You see, what Christ suffered, what Christ
endured was what we deserved, what we have earned with our sin. It’s not fair that Christ should be there –
it should be us – and not just for a day, but for an eternity. But Christ Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God
steps in, and He suffers in our place – He makes a trade with us. Christ says, “Here, I will take your
punishment and death – and now, behold the life and salvation I give you.” And note this – But one of His soldiers pierced
His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. Christ gives to you life. Water flows from His side at death, and now,
by the wonder of His gift of Baptism, water gives you life, washes you clean of
your sin, wins your redemption. Blood
flows from His side at His death, and now, by the wondrous gift of the Supper,
that Blood is given to you for the remission of all your sin. Everything that happens to Christ, everything
He suffers, it is for your good, for your life, for your salvation.
He takes up the load that you could not bear. He takes up the suffering which you could not
endure. He takes up the burden of sin
that lies upon you, and He says, “Enough – I will pay for it all, and I will
win for you forgiveness.” As Christ is
arrested, we are set free from the chains of sin. As Christ is betrayed by His friends, we are
made friends again with God. As Christ
is harangued by the Chief Priests and condemned by His community, we are
welcomed into God’s Heavenly
Kingdom. As He is beaten, our sin is purged. As His is mocked, we are praised by God,
declared to be Holy and Righteous on account of Christ. As He is given to death, we are given over to
life everlasting.
We do not call this day fair Friday. It was not.
But it was good – and indeed, the love of God for you is that He
willingly suffers every injustice for your own good, for your own life, that
you might enjoy life eternal. And come
the third day – He will rise and claim that life eternal for you. In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
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