Sermon: C Good Friday 29 March 2013

Is 52:13-53.12; Ps 22; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; JN 18:1-19:42

“It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. AMEN.

Again we hear the long, difficult narrative of Jesus’s death on a cross. Again we want to squirm away from it, and rush to celebrate what comes next. We need to make meaning, though, of this: Jesus died on a cross. He didn’t choose to die or die this way then, and yet he did. That in no way means he agreed or chose in a suicidal way to die. He kept on keeping on making the cross into an offer, and an act of solidarity.

Meditation for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost: Why Me?

The gospel for Sunday follows readings that ask us to imagine a loving God, who surrounds us with goodness and strength and a multitude of challenges. Jesus confronts his disciples with a question: “who do you say that I am?” And then Jesus describes pattern for living: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” I imagine some stunned silence.

Six years ago, I slid Barbara Crafton’s “Almost Daily Mo” response into my lectionary text. I pick it up fairly regularly as a reminder: “Take up your cross" isn't really about patience under suffering. There's nothing plodding about this counsel. It's not about patience; it's about an embrace. Don't hide from your cross. Don't deny your cross. Don't change the subject every time your cross comes up. Take it up! Don't let your cross turn you into anything less than the human being God made you, no matter what it takes from you in the end. Find out just how much you have left and how to walk with it. Because your cross, if you have embraced it, becomes the Way.”