Today is Good Friday, arguably the darkest day of the church year. This is the day that we "celebrate" the death of Jesus. For those of you just tuning in, here's a little recap of how we got to this point:
Jesus was born (we celebrated that around Christmas). He told a lot of stories about things we really don't understand today, implying that life was much different than what we thought/were living. He walked around the country side arguing with religious leaders, feeding hordes of people with a few scraps of food, casting out demons, and healing people. All the while he predicted that this was going to come to an end and they were going to kill him.
As today drew nearer, they journeyed to Jerusalem, Jesus were mistaken for a warrior king (the people were hoping for something a different than Jesus), eventually he ate one last meal, was arrested in a garden, and here we are: Good Friday!
Even though the story is a bit more involved than that, the end result remains the same: Jesus has been sentenced to death because of everything that he has done in the short time that he has been alive. The religious and political leaders were not comfortable with his work in their area; there was a fear that a carpenter's son was going to rise to power and overthrow the empire. Preaching the imminent kingdom of God was a scary thing to hear when you were sitting on top of an empire built on fear, power and perversion.
Nobody wants to be overthrown by what seems to be a band of peasants in a revolt. So, in order to protect their interests the powers that were decided to put him to death instead of allowing him to continue spewing his mystical nonsense every where he went.
Telling people that their faith will set them free; that in order to be first in the kingdom of God they must become like servants; that God has a plan that nobody is entitled to know, not even the Son; that people can be healed do demon possession and leprosy in by invoking the name of God. That cannot be allowed!
In order to snuff out the problem you go right to the source, which in this case was Jesus. He was the head of the band of misfits that were at the core of these miscreant teachings and subversive acts. You take out the leader and the rest will scatter like frightened rats, which is exactly what happens...
For all the work that Jesus did in his ministry, all the disciples that he raised up, all of the people he fed and healed in his journeys, he was hung on a cross to the tune of "Crucify Him!" Peter denied him, Lazarus sold him out to the empire, and even the robbers next to him taunted him.
He was ridiculed, degraded, beaten, spit on, taunted, beaten, stripped and left to die alone... because of us.
We put him there, on that cross.
We taunted and spit on him as he drug his cross to Golgatha.
We refused to stand up tall and say, "I am a part of the Way"
Jesus was on that cross because of us.
The Son of God taught, rebuked and raised up church leaders who in the end walked away in shame. The Son of God shone a light on the woes of this life that interfered with the coming Kingdom
The Son of God died unknown, alone, and full of disgrace.... he died a criminals death because of us.
I realize that this sits really heavy on your hearts. I realize that this is not what you want to hear. You do not want to be blamed for the death of the savior of the world. You do not want to be held responsible, and the good news is that you aren't.
It may have been our, collective, actions that put Jesus on that cross. It may have been us who walked away at the last second and refused to accept any knowledge of his actions/teachings. It may have been our political leanings and need for power that disallowed us to hear the truth in his words, but it had to be done.
The death of Jesus was a requirement. It was foretold by Jesus himself. It was prophesied over and over again (at least 3 times in the Gospel of Mark). Jesus had to die so that we might proclaim, "Truly, this was the Son of God," like the centurion at the end of this story.
Even though this is likely a roman soldier poking one last jab at Jesus, it is the first instance where a person, in the Gospel of Mark, a knowledge of the true identity of Jesus. From the beginning of the Gospel, we read this as the opening sentence:“The beginning of the good news
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” At his baptism, the voice of God
announced that Jesus was God's Son. At his transfiguration, the voice of
God announced that Jesus was God's Son. All along the way, the demons knew
that Jesus was the Son of God, and it terrified them. Yet now, for the
first time, a person said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” This is the jumping off point for the rest of the story... it is possible that we are finally connecting the dots and putting together all of the experiences we have had along the way.
Here, at his death, Jesus was named as the Son of God. He always had
been the son of God, but on that day someone spoke it out loud. Here, on
the darkest day of human history, the love of God shined forth in
Christ’s self-sacrifice. Here, at the depths of human sinfulness and
iniquity, God extended forgiveness to us all. Here, under the crush of
all that was twisted, perverted, and gone wrong, the Son of God suffered
and died at our hands that we might live and be made new by his hands.
Here, Jesus accepted humiliation, degradation, and the loneliness of
being forsaken by God in order to bring us glory, honor, and fellowship
with God, himself, and each other.
It is in the darkest of places that God is most near... and it doesn't get much darker than dying a criminals death, alone, in the middle of nowhere, with all of your friends, colleagues, and benefactors watching... it is in this place that the veil between the divine and human is ripped apart... in this place we no longer have to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Christ has done it already.... amen.
