John 18:1-40; 19:1-37 Good Friday Sermon - March 25, 2005 The Rev. Diane Livingston, Deacon Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Everything about this day and the remembrance of Jesus dying on the cross is heavy - heavy with intellectual understandings of the words of this story, heavy with our emotions as we read or walk through the story. It is messy with our tears, with the gut-wrenching ache of our stomachs, with the bloodiness of the violence of Jesus' death, of the awfulness of the whole thing. As we listen to the words through scripture or through music or through our eyes in the case of walking the Stations of the Cross, it is easy to identify with children who, upon understanding the story of Good Friday, turn to us and say, "Why is it called Good Friday; why not Bad Friday?" We hear our adult voices say something like: if Jesus had only suffered and died, then that would have been really sad. There wouldn't have been anything good about Good Friday. But Jesus didn't just die. He also rose from the dead on Easter and that is very good. If Jesus had not died for us on Good Friday, he could not have risen on Easter Sunday. That's what makes this Friday a Good News Friday. Jesus chose to show all those around him that he knew what it was like to be human and to suffer like a human. He also wanted to show us that goodness is always bigger, better, and stronger than sin. He did that by rising from the dead to prove that goodness cannot be killed. We don't call the day good because it's nice to suffer. It is called good because it is wonderful that Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to die for us. Jesus's death on the cross is the ultimate gesture of generosity because he holds nothing back for the sake of those he loves. His death is also the ultimate gesture of grace because it is indeed pure gift, not required of him but offered by him. Today Jesus saved us from having no hope. He showed us that goodness wins over evil and life conquers death forever! However to get to the actuality of the hope that life conquers death forever, like we will proclaim on Easter, we must experience this day today. When we are honest, we know that there is so much more learning from having an experience in a particular situation rather than just reading about it. When one enters a job situation in any vocation, going through the day in and day out routines and crises are more poignant than any lecturer could conjure up for us. Our studies and discussions ahead of time do much to prepare us and equip us but we ultimately must take the plunge and enter whatever world we have been wanting to learn more about. Those who intern or student teach or go on mission trips always complete that time much more stretched and wiser and more in tune with what they have previously studied or imagined. When we journey to the cross through various Lenten disciples of prayer, walking the Stations of the Cross, attending a Good Friday liturgy, we enter a different level of following Jesus. It is not neat and compartmentalized but rather it takes our whole self into what it means to stand with Jesus and to see how the world - which includes us - treats the son of God. When we walk up close to the cross and give up our position from a distant hill or path where we may somewhat know what is going on but we are really not close enough to be completely involved, something extraordinary happens. We can actually look into the eyes of Jesus and we can hear and smell and see exactly what is happening. We enter the story in a different way than if we just said, "Today is Good Friday - the day that Jesus died on the cross." When we feel our own stomachs tighten and our own lips go dry as we empathize with Peter as he denies knowing Jesus and being one of his disciples, we must take the question to our own heart and figure out what our own response will be. We struggle with Pilate, who truly is the one on trial - not Jesus, as we feel the pressure of the crowd upon us (in our culture we may call this peer pressure or media pressure or the views of the majority). We too are tempted to take the path of Pilate and just keep this decision simple and go with what the most vocal tell us to do. Then we can get on with our own lives. Finally we surely identify with any one in authority that day who didn't think Jesus should be killed but was too afraid to speak up. Enter the story and hear the sound of the nails being driven, the crying and the yelling of those on the ground around the cross, the look and kindness of Jesus toward Mary, his mother, the realization that we are holding our breath as we wait for the words of Jesus, "It is finished," to tell us that indeed he has died. The love that we talk about this day is not soft or cuddly; it is not simply an emotion. The love we deal with today defines the very essence of character and identity. When we live in and out of this love of giving up our own lives - the thing humans hold most dear - we experience more fully the presence of God. When the service is over and we exit the doors of this church, we may return to walk the Stations later today and then we will exit again. Tomorrow night for the Easter Vigil or Sunday morning for the Easter morning service, we will participate in the good news of the resurrection and we will loudly and joyfully once again say the Alleluia responses. But today I challenge you: how can we remember how much we loved Jesus when we saw him dying on the cross today? Christians are not meant to live in doom and despair and so it is appropriate and right that we move on to the Resurrection and the Ascension and Pentecost, but there IS much to remember about today and the sorrow and the unjustness of it all. How do we take all of that out of these doors and into the world? What happened on Good Friday is that God chose to enter into our suffering. I believe that in this same way, we are each called to enter into humanity's suffering by being faithful followers of Christ. For whatever we do for one of the least of these, we do it for Christ himself. As the Lenten daily readings of the Episcopal Relief and Development put it so well: as you pray for people in our world who suffer, don't pray for stronger backs so they can bear their suffering more effectively. Pray instead that your shoulders will help them carry their pain and anguish. You were created and equipped by God to be able to do certain tasks in this world that Jesus did when he was in this world in human form. We are still in the world today and we have the chance to enter the suffering of the world when we go through those doors and chose how we will give of ourselves to those in need - be they known to us or complete strangers, whether they be our neighbor in Starkville or the other side of the world. As an old Hasidic tale puts it: the rabbi asks his students, "How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?" One student suggested, "When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep." "No," said the rabbi. "It is when you can look into the face of human beings and you have enough light in you to recognize them as your brothers and sisters. Up until then it is night, and darkness is still with us." The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus came as light into the world so that all those who believe in him will not remain in the darkness. Jesus has made it possible for us to have the light within us and therefore it is in order that we should be able to recognize within the face of all others the faces of our brothers and sisters. If going up close to the Cross and being with Jesus in his suffering will help us to go up close to others in our world today and be with them in their suffering, there is hope that the love and the justice and the healing and the forgiveness of Jesus will continue today through us. Thanks be to God on this Good Friday!