I knew it would have to happen some time. I was so committed to preaching on a reading from Hebrews in the Fourth chapter. I had so many good thoughts to share.
And then I realized as the lector began: I had scheduled us to read "the other Hebrews pericope" from Chapter 10. Fortunataely, I had the excessively long Gospel of John's version of the Passion of the Christ to think through how to make the fix... and if it would be enough. I determined it was.
So just a slight adjustment to one sentence... and I was back on track with this sermon....
Text: (intended) Heb. 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Some years ago… I was meeting up with a
friend for a coffee date.
It was Good Friday, and he was a very lapsed
Roman Catholic.
But out of a sense of kindness, he wished me
a “Happy Good Friday.”
Then he became self-conscious about his
greeting.
“Is it Happy Good Friday… or is this Good
Happy Friday?”
We both laughed.
It is hard to imagine what is the appropriate
thing to say to someone on this day…on the day we must contend with the reality
of the crucifixion.
Is it really a “good” thing?
Is it really a happy occasion to commemorate
the day when jealousy, suspicion, greed, pride, anger, fear, resentment, and
hatred got the upper hand and resulted in the public execution of God?
Doesn’t really sound all that “good” now,
does it?
But actually… yeah… this is a
"good" day. I don't know about "happy", but it is good.
Good because this is “God’s Day.”
This is the day when God… in the man Jesus…
listened deeply to the call put on him to confront the earthly powers of pride,
jealousy, tyranny and bullying…and resisted the temptation to meet their
violence with violence.
This is the day… so many centuries ago, God
the Son met every single one of those egocentric "sins"... absorbed
all of it into his physical being and took those things to be nailed with him
on the cross.
It is this Good Friday…when God the Father
becomes intimately at one with the grieving and the suffering of the world…knowing
the anguish of death… and the tears falling from the cheeks of the grieving and
the dispossessed.
It is at this moment that God the Holy
Spirit…clings and holds together the God who is in the crucified place…and the
God who weeps with the women at the cross…to comfort both in this excruciating
moment…fulfilling the promise that God… our Trinitarian God… is never far from
us.
For anyone who has ever been the victim of a
bully… or been pushed into the margins of society… or felt like an “other” or a
“less than” of any kind… this Friday is our day.
On this day… Jesus gives us one more lesson…
one more important take away for our lives.
It is OK to cry.
It is perfectly reasonable to scream out to
God:
“My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?”
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews says
in the 4th Chapter,
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up
prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able
to save him from death…”
Jesus lifts his voice in prayer because he
trusts that even in this bitter moment… at a time when his friends had all run
away… God the Father will hear his cry.
That is the level of trust he has in
God…knowing that somehow… in whatever way it will happen… God is going to
deliver him through this pain.
It’s unfortunate that in these polarized
times in which we’re living right now…that the phrase “thoughts and prayers”
has been rendered empty by our political leaders who say the words but fail to
act on them.
Many of my friends roll their eyes when they
hear the phrase “thoughts and prayers.”
But it’s in prayer is that our great high
priest Jesus demonstrates an unwavering belief that God would hear him.
And as we know… God did respond in the
resurrection.
Prayer works.
It opens us to a dialogue with God and gives
God that opportunity to respond as we need… not with lightening bolts… but with
a shift… a change in us when the Spirit intercedes to help.
I recently shared with the Inquiry 101 group
about a time when I was advocating for the adoption of a broader Human Rights
Ordinance at my county commission meeting.
The opponents were hurling all sorts of ugly
accusations against people who are LGBTQ.
I had my Book of Common Prayer with me at the
meeting. And as people expressed their ugliness… I opened my prayer book… and
prayed for deliverance from hardness of heart… from the need to be cruel… show
hatred… or exact revenge. I prayed the same for my opponents.
A TV crew wanted to interview me…which I did…
reluctantly.
They also interviewed someone from the other
side as they should do.
When I saw the story later that night… I was
shocked. Not by what either of us said.
It was our demeanors and how we appeared on
TV.
Even though I hadn’t wanted to go on camera… (because
I really hate TV cameras)… I appeared very calm. I spoke plainly without any
bite or sarcasm.
My opponent… on the other hand… was visibly
angry and aggressive…almost like a barking dog.
It was striking.
Prayer shaped and formed my response in a
situation where I could have easily dug in my heels and been just as hateful as
this other person appeared.
And I felt compassion for them… even though I
didn’t agree with them. So much anger was flowing out of them. It was shocking.
Jesus’ final three words in John’s Gospel--"It
is finished"--says so much.
Jesus has finished the lesson of how Love
refuses to give into fear.
Despite the jeering… the taunts… and the
abuse… Jesus fixed his sights on Love.
He prayed to that Love.
And that Love…which at first appears to have
lost… has actually won.
It is won when we… who stand before the
cross… can see in that instrument of shame the promise of a life that was
resurrected.
It is won when we commit to live in Love…
turn to prayer to seek the strength and courage that comes from God when we are
facing the tyrants and the bullies of our world.
Good Friday… God’s Friday… shows us one more
time… that with God…all things are possible.
In the name of God…F/S/HS.
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