Good Friday Homily - April 10, 2020 - How Can This Be? - Part 2

Holy Friday Icon

Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Psalm 22

Hebrews 10:16-25

John 18:1-19:42

[Triduum Sermon, Part 2]

I.

How can this be?

That Jesus Christ,
 who healed the sick,
  opened the eyes of the blind,
   restored the limbs of the lame,
    raised the dead back to life,
     is betrayed by one of his own disciples?

How can this be?

That Jesus's own people despise and reject him,
 even so much so that they hand him over to Pilate,
  the Roman governor of Judea,
   and nearly start rioting unless Pilate puts Jesus to death.

How can this be?

That Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior of the world
 chooses to fulfill the Holy Scripture even under horrific suffering
  chooses death on a cross,
   and actually, literally
    dies as a sacrifice for sin,
     the perfect, spotless Lamb of God?

And who will fault us for asking,
 "How can this be?"
  Because, if we are honest with ourselves,
   we might also struggle with making sense of Jesus's Passion.

II.

Because, we, the disciples of Jesus,
 have just experienced him wash our feet as a servant,
  and give us the new institution of his Body and Blood.

We now find ourselves in a dark garden,
 where Jesus has taken us to pray.
  And Jesus has been praying so very long,
   and we are tired.
    But all of our weariness goes away
     when we see the fire of lit torches and the soldiers coming.

We are snapped out of our sleepiness
 when we see swords brandished,
  armed Jews and Romans,
   coming with Judas, one of our friends!

We are scared enough that we frantically try to fight back.
 Peter draws a sword and swings,
  cutting a man's ear off,
   and we all cower as Jesus tells the soldiers to let us go.

And they do,
 so we flee.

We run.
 We run quickly,
  and the lights of the torches fade in the distance
   as Jesus, our Teacher,
    is bound and led away.

But, of course,
 some disciples follow, such as Peter
  and the disciple whom Jesus loves.

And Jesus is tried falsely by his own people.
 They declare him guilty of blasphemy,
  claiming to be the Son of God.

Jesus is handed over to Pilate,
 and we watch in horror
  as the crowds nearly riot
   because of how badly they want Jesus crucified.

And the crowd gets their wish,
 don't they?

Jesus is lifted up on the cross,
 crucified,
  and dies.

And we stand at the foot of the cross,
 tears in our eyes and swords piercing our heart,
  and cry,
   "How can this be?"

III.

And yet Jesus,

 our Savior and Redeemer,

  seems to be pointing us to something different,

   something beyond what our words can describe,

    even as every step of the way it looks as if the forces of evil in the world

     have conspired to snuff our the Light of the World. 

Jesus,

 even as the soldiers and guards come to arrest him,

  displays power even over his captors as they fall away to the ground,

   but also demonstrates the laying down of his power 

    in order to accomplish the Perfect Sacrifice for you and me. 

As he is tried by his own people,

 turned over the Pontius Pilate,

  as Pilate threatens him with crucifixion,

   Jesus simply turns and says, 

    "You, Pilate, would have no power to do this if it was not granted to you."

And as Jesus carries his cross,

 ascends the hill of Golgotha,

  as he is nailed to the cross,

   blood and sweat caked on his body,

    he fulfills what he came to do,

     and gives up his spirit as a perfect sacrifice

      for the sins of the whole world. 

Even in death, as Jesus is laid in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea

 and Nicodemus, Jesus's disciple among the Pharisees,

  Jesus still points us to something beyond what we have just witnessed. 

We don't understand,

 we are afraid and bitterly saddened by what happened to our beloved Teacher. 

And now Jesus is gone,

 and we are left alone. 

We are caught in the midst of confusion:

 why didn't Jesus just save himself?

  Why didn't he just run away like we did?

   Why did he keep telling us that he had to die,

    and why did he keep telling us he had to be crucified?

     And for us, the unthinkable happened:

      Jesus actually did get crucified. 

And we remember what Jesus said:

 "Greater love has no man than this,

   than to lay down his life for his friends."

Indeed, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,

 has been sacrificed.

  

But we are left all the more bereaved for it,

 aren't we?

The forgiveness of sins is supposed to be accompanied by joy and gladness,

 but we only see the loss of Jesus. 

And yet,

 in the sacrifice of the cross,

  Jesus has not broken his word to us.

He indeed offered himself as he said he would. 

 He indeed was lifted from the earth on the cross, like he said he would. 

  He was buried, like he said he would be.

...

...does that mean he will rise again on the third day, like he said he would? 

[To Be Continued]