Good Friday 2016

Address 1 

In our readings we’ve heard of two parts of the passion account so far. First, the arrest of Jesus and then the interrogation. In the arrest (John 18:1-12) we heard of Jesus finishing praying and going across to the Kidron Valley. As he went across he would have noticed the stream that he would have crossed was red with the blood of thousands of lambs being sacrificed in the Temple for the Passover. It would have been a chilling scene perhaps as Jesus considered the sacrifice he was about to make.

And then he went to a garden – as we look back we think of the Garden of Eden where humanity first opened that rift with God and now it was in a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus would give the possibility of humanity being restored in their relationship with God. 

We’re told that Judas then arrived knowing this was a place Jesus went to regularly with his disciples, and he came with a detachment of soldiers as well as some officials from the Chief Priests and Pharisees. This was likely to have been a large group, disproportionate perhaps to arrest one man – maybe they were afraid Jesus would resist in some way, maybe they feared that he did have power that could challenge them. 

But when Jesus heard or saw their approach he went out to meet them… And that really sums up so much of what Jesus is about – moving towards others, whoever they are, to try and build a relationship. When the group say who they are looking for Jesus says, ‘I am he’, and those who had come to arrest him we’re told, ‘drew back and fell to the ground’.

And then Jesus turns to his own disciples asking that they be released. He was Concerned still for his people, knowing their fear, perhaps even knowing their weakness… 

But there is one final piece of drama here as Peter cuts of the ear of the high priest’s servant, Malchus. It was another example of Peter just not getting what it was all about… 

And so Jesus was arrested and then in our second reading (john 18:13-27) he is taken away to be interrogated. Somehow Peter follows and is questioned as to whether he is one of Jesus’ followers – his reply of ‘I am not’ contrasts sharply with Jesus’ reply to those who came to arrest him, ‘I am He’. 

Later Peter is of course challenged twice more and each time he denied knowing Jesus… 

What powerful readings, not just for Good Friday but for any day. We’re reminded of the sacrifice of Jesus, we’re reminded that he offered himself willingly. We’re reminded of his willingness to come forward and meet his accusers in the garden, of his care and concern for those weak and terrified disciples, of his courage in defending all that he had done, and while he defended himself ready to die for his people, his closest followers stood aside, denied knowing him or ran and hid. 

Our challenge for today must be to respond to the sacrifice and love of Jesus, to be courageous in our willingness to stand up for him and to proclaim his message, and to be ready always to open ourselves up to God, to empty ourselves so that we may be filled with more of Him…. 

Address 2 

Our last two readings (John 18: 28 – 19:16a & John 19:16b – 37) offer us more insights into the characters around the cross. There is Pilate to whom Jesus is brought, not really wanting anything to do with Jesus. And yet, Pilate has other things to think about – certainly he may be a bit worried about Jesus, but he’s more worried about the influence of Annas and Caiaphas and the powerful Jewish authorities who could make trouble for him.  And he’s perhaps worried about Herod too, and also how he might look to Caesar who may get to hear of these events… 

Pilate is a man in turmoil, finding no fault, but not really seeing Jesus as important enough to really cause a stir. He offers the deal of Barabbas or Jesus, promising to release one of them, but the crowds choose Barabbas and Jesus’ fate is sealed. 

Then there was the crowd, baying for blood. How many of them, we don’t know. Whether they were people planted by the Jewish authorities we don’t know. What their motives were, we don’t know. But what we do know is that they weren’t seeing a Messiah at all. Maybe these were some of the people who had cheered Jesus into Jerusalem, but Jesus hadn’t been the Saviour they’d hoped for, and so now, they turned against him, ready perhaps to move on to the next candidate… 

In John’s gospel those crucified with Jesus are not mentioned, other than for being there, but the soldiers are mentioned - four of them. They’re going about their usual business, casting lots to see who can get something more out of this crucifixion in terms of this cloak. For them it’s dreadfully routine.  

But whilst this may have meant nothing for these four soldiers nearby are four others for whom this event means everything, Jesus’ mother and his mothers sister, and then two other Mary’s, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. They had not abandoned Jesus – they waited with him, accompanying him as anybody might sit at the bedside of a loved one approaching death… 

And then there was John, the beloved disciple – and from the cross there is that incredible touch of compassion. Jesus says to his mother, ‘Here is your son’ and to John, ‘Here is your mother’. 

So in these readings we have the desire to please others at the expense of Jesus by Pilate. He didn’t stand by his own feelings, but gave in and tried to find other ways of releasing Jesus, and when they failed he gave in to the evil. When we look at Pilate perhaps we’d all have some sympathy – he didn’t want to cause riots which could cost him his job perhaps, he didn’t want to upset the relatively stable peace such as it was, he didn’t want to admit to feeling something about Jesus, and so he took the easy path. 

Then there was the crowd – peer pressure perhaps, or maybe they wanted to try and taunt Jesus into doing something miraculous or maybe they’d just decided that this Jesus wasn’t interesting enough for them – he wasn’t the sort of Messiah they’d decided they needed. 

Also there were the soldiers, going about their business, indifferent to the drama being played out, but also there were the people who stayed with Jesus, who would never leave him… 

And in those people we have an obvious challenge – to take the easy route like Pilate, the route that others want us or expect us to take; or we can join in with the crowds who want to condemn Jesus once again; or we can formalise everything, even in church so that, like the soldiers we just go about our business, whether that be in church or out of church – we can be a different person for every different occasion. 

Or there’s the other choice – we can be the people who never turn from Jesus, who recognise that we need him with us always, who recognise that that is where he wants to be – guiding us, supporting us, strengthening us, encouraging us, loving us… loving us always… 

Soon will come the burial of Jesus, the burial that some people thought might be the end – perhaps there were some who thought exactly that as Jesus cried out those words from the cross, ‘It is finished’, but those were not words of defeat, but rather of accomplishment and victory… 

Today as we remember his death and his sacrifice and his love, we remind ourselves also that it was in seeming defeat that Jesus brought us all to victory…