Good Friday: a day of transformation
Good Friday: A day of transformation
John 18:1 - 19:37
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jesus died for our sins. Throughout the Gospel of John, we hear that theme in Jesus’ words and his discussions with his followers and with the Jewish authorities. Jesus died for our sins, so that we are forgiven our sins, and are made right before God. But that isn’t obvious in the passion narrative read today. In the reading we just heard, Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter falls from grace in wielding his sword, and then denies his faith in Jesus three times. We see Jesus examined by Pilate and found innocent, but eventually turned over to the religious authorities to be crucified. And today we commemorate that terrible death, an unjust death from fear of his power and anger from his forgiveness of sins. The story of his death is visceral, emotionally and spiritually violent as his stature is torn away from him and he is reduced to a person of scorn, the same scorn that was held for the sinners he ministered to. The Gospel of John presents Jesus’ crucifixion as redeeming the sinners of his time, and by extension the sins of the entire world, including ours. And that message is sometimes lost in the noise of our world, just as it was initially lost in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. But, what does it mean to us today?
John the Baptist greets Jesus twice as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” a reference to Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the Jewish Passover at the beginning of the Gospel. Later, Jesus speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd, who willingly sacrifices himself to protect the sheep and lambs in his flock and expands John’s image of the Lamb of God. And just before Jesus is arrested in the garden, he gives one last request to his followers, that they love each other as he has loved them. Everything that Jesus says and does is about love. So, what appears to be a story of terrible suffering and humiliation is transformed into a story of how the Good Shepherd laid down his life for his flock. His was an act of selfless, sacrificial love that carried him through his arrest, trial and death by crucifixion. Jesus’ death on Good Friday was never about himself, who he was or what he would do. It was about showing what the power of sacrificial love could do in an unfair world of haves and have-nots, an unjust world of us versus them, a dysfunctional world of fear and hatred.
The glory of Jesus’ actions was about giving up his life for something greater than himself, a new life for us. Our response to Jesus’ sacrifice for us is not to be martyrs like him, but instead undergo a figurative death that leads to a new life. We hear that call to die to our sinful selves when we become aware of and experience God’s grace, in the form of faith in his Son sent into the world. We hear that calling again on Good Friday, when we contemplate Jesus’ sacrificial death and understand the redemption of our sins that it brings. When we die, it is our selfishness, self-centeredness, and suspicion that dies within us. It is a death not from being tried and judged but instead from removing the unfairness between the haves and have-nots, removing the injustice between us and them, and removing the dysfunction of living in fear and hatred. When we sacrifice our lives, we sacrifice our will to God’s will. It is a sacrifice not from giving up all purpose and reason for living, but instead from finding new purpose and fulfillment from serving the needs of the world. In our death and sacrifice we are resurrected as good shepherds so that we can take on the responsibility of gathering Jesus’ flock, tending to the needy and making sure that none are left behind. Through our resurrection, we become part of something greater than ourselves, possible only when it’s no longer all about us. The messy, tragic story of our lives may start as one full of sins, faults, and bad decisions, but when we willingly live our lives in Christ and act out of love, we can transform the story of our lives to one of righteousness. Our redemption from Jesus’ death on the cross empowers us to fight sin and find the strength to turn away from it. Our redemption gives us the will to strive for a life where we can fulfill Jesus’ last request for us: to love each other as he loved us.
The redeemed world is not perfect, and we as redeemed people are not always pious. We still must die to our sins, sometimes everyday. Our response to our redemption is a life-long journey toward holiness that is steered by a vision of who we strive to be as people who have faith in Christ. Our journey is encouraged and nurtured by faith in God and in our worthiness to receive God’s grace. We can pass from a life of despair into a life of hope and goodness, but we have to pass through the veil of death to our sins for that to occur. Jesus passing through the veil of death for us on this day was not in vain, not so long as we feel that we are worthy of his love and in turn love our neighbors as ourselves. His sacrifice for us was not in vain, not so long as we are faithful to the redemption offered to us, and in turn forgive our neighbors as we forgive ourselves. His advocacy for us to God was not in vain, not so long as the words we say and the actions we make are acts of his mercy and compassion for our neighbors as we show mercy and compassion for ourselves. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died for our sins so that we could understand what it means to die with him, and what it means to be resurrected in him and begin a new life of holiness and righteousness. So that in his death and in our death there is no loss, only the beginning of our transformation.
John 18:1 - 19:37
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jesus died for our sins. Throughout the Gospel of John, we hear that theme in Jesus’ words and his discussions with his followers and with the Jewish authorities. Jesus died for our sins, so that we are forgiven our sins, and are made right before God. But that isn’t obvious in the passion narrative read today. In the reading we just heard, Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter falls from grace in wielding his sword, and then denies his faith in Jesus three times. We see Jesus examined by Pilate and found innocent, but eventually turned over to the religious authorities to be crucified. And today we commemorate that terrible death, an unjust death from fear of his power and anger from his forgiveness of sins. The story of his death is visceral, emotionally and spiritually violent as his stature is torn away from him and he is reduced to a person of scorn, the same scorn that was held for the sinners he ministered to. The Gospel of John presents Jesus’ crucifixion as redeeming the sinners of his time, and by extension the sins of the entire world, including ours. And that message is sometimes lost in the noise of our world, just as it was initially lost in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. But, what does it mean to us today?
John the Baptist greets Jesus twice as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” a reference to Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the Jewish Passover at the beginning of the Gospel. Later, Jesus speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd, who willingly sacrifices himself to protect the sheep and lambs in his flock and expands John’s image of the Lamb of God. And just before Jesus is arrested in the garden, he gives one last request to his followers, that they love each other as he has loved them. Everything that Jesus says and does is about love. So, what appears to be a story of terrible suffering and humiliation is transformed into a story of how the Good Shepherd laid down his life for his flock. His was an act of selfless, sacrificial love that carried him through his arrest, trial and death by crucifixion. Jesus’ death on Good Friday was never about himself, who he was or what he would do. It was about showing what the power of sacrificial love could do in an unfair world of haves and have-nots, an unjust world of us versus them, a dysfunctional world of fear and hatred.
The glory of Jesus’ actions was about giving up his life for something greater than himself, a new life for us. Our response to Jesus’ sacrifice for us is not to be martyrs like him, but instead undergo a figurative death that leads to a new life. We hear that call to die to our sinful selves when we become aware of and experience God’s grace, in the form of faith in his Son sent into the world. We hear that calling again on Good Friday, when we contemplate Jesus’ sacrificial death and understand the redemption of our sins that it brings. When we die, it is our selfishness, self-centeredness, and suspicion that dies within us. It is a death not from being tried and judged but instead from removing the unfairness between the haves and have-nots, removing the injustice between us and them, and removing the dysfunction of living in fear and hatred. When we sacrifice our lives, we sacrifice our will to God’s will. It is a sacrifice not from giving up all purpose and reason for living, but instead from finding new purpose and fulfillment from serving the needs of the world. In our death and sacrifice we are resurrected as good shepherds so that we can take on the responsibility of gathering Jesus’ flock, tending to the needy and making sure that none are left behind. Through our resurrection, we become part of something greater than ourselves, possible only when it’s no longer all about us. The messy, tragic story of our lives may start as one full of sins, faults, and bad decisions, but when we willingly live our lives in Christ and act out of love, we can transform the story of our lives to one of righteousness. Our redemption from Jesus’ death on the cross empowers us to fight sin and find the strength to turn away from it. Our redemption gives us the will to strive for a life where we can fulfill Jesus’ last request for us: to love each other as he loved us.
The redeemed world is not perfect, and we as redeemed people are not always pious. We still must die to our sins, sometimes everyday. Our response to our redemption is a life-long journey toward holiness that is steered by a vision of who we strive to be as people who have faith in Christ. Our journey is encouraged and nurtured by faith in God and in our worthiness to receive God’s grace. We can pass from a life of despair into a life of hope and goodness, but we have to pass through the veil of death to our sins for that to occur. Jesus passing through the veil of death for us on this day was not in vain, not so long as we feel that we are worthy of his love and in turn love our neighbors as ourselves. His sacrifice for us was not in vain, not so long as we are faithful to the redemption offered to us, and in turn forgive our neighbors as we forgive ourselves. His advocacy for us to God was not in vain, not so long as the words we say and the actions we make are acts of his mercy and compassion for our neighbors as we show mercy and compassion for ourselves. Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died for our sins so that we could understand what it means to die with him, and what it means to be resurrected in him and begin a new life of holiness and righteousness. So that in his death and in our death there is no loss, only the beginning of our transformation.
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