The gospel of John, just like each of the other gospels, has its own unique perspective on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  This is, in part, because of the particular community that John was writing for.  They were difficult times, when John was writing, and he was trying to assure a community of people who had recently been kicked out of the synagogue that Jesus really was the Jewish Messiah.

    I mention this context for the gospel of John, because reading it without any awareness of the historical setting has caused some significant problems over the years.  Did you know, for example, that historically Holy Week provided an excuse for beating up Jewish people?  You may have noticed in the readings today that John often mentions “the Jews” – as if they are the ones to blame for Jesus’ crucifixion.  However, the people John was writing to were also Jewish.  They just happen to be the ones who believe in Jesus.

    And so, in John’s writing, he is trying to make a distinction.  There are those who are still part of the synagogue and who don’t believe in Jesus.  Then there are those who happen to be Jewish, but who do believe in Jesus.  A careful reading also shows that the religious authorities were the main instigators in getting Jesus crucified.  And so, John’s concern is not to condemn Jewish people, but to show how Jesus really is the expected Messiah.

    Along these lines, consider this amazing scene from John 18.  Judas shows up in the garden with about 600 Roman soldiers and temple guards.  When they say that they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus replies, “I am,” and they all step back and fall to the ground (Jn. 18:4-6).  Some of you might recall that “I am” is God’s name from Exodus 3.  Instinctively, all of these soldiers seem to know that Jesus is worthy of worship, and maybe even the Son of God!  John makes it clear that Jesus is totally in control, and goes with the soldiers of his own accord.

    At the same time, in John, Jesus is identified from the beginning as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).  Thus, in John’s description of the crucifixion, he makes it clear that Jesus is crucified at the same time as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.  In order to understand what John is getting at, it helps to have some understanding of what the Passover is all about.

    And so, without going into all of the details, the Passover goes back to the last plague before the Israelites were set free from their slavery in Egypt.  They were to slaughter a lamb, and to eat it.  However, they were also to take a hyssop branch with the blood of the lamb and put the blood all around the doorways to their houses.  When the angel of death saw the blood, he passed over those houses and did not kill anybody inside.  This is the saving event that is still remembered at Passover.

    In John, of course, Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb - the one who has saved us by his blood and has allowed us to pass from death to life.  In John’s gospel, this is a big part of how he tries to make sense of the cross.  Many others, too, over the years have written about why Jesus had to die on the cross and how his death and resurrection save us.  However, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to explain a bunch of theories about the cross and to totally miss how Jesus’ death and resurrection have the power to change lives.

    And so, as we remember today Jesus’ path to the cross, can you see in that cross the depth of God’s love for us?  Can you see in that cross what human sinfulness can do?  Can you see on that cross all of our burdens, laid upon Jesus and then left there?  Can you see in that cross the things in our lives that need to die – our old, sinful, self-centred selves that need to die off in order that we can rise to new life in Christ?

    That cross, and the man who hung there, have the power to change lives because they bring us into a life-giving relationship with God.  And so, our old selves - our sinful, turned-in-on-ourselves, selves - are drowned in the waters of baptism - put to death, just like Jesus was on the cross.  And in their place, we rise to new life - just as Jesus was raised from the dead - and we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to become more and more Christ-like as we continue to learn and to grow in our faith.

    It is God who does this, and not us, because that (sending Jesus to the cross) is what we would do.  And so, thanks be to God that he was willing to go to any length - even to the cross - in order to redeem us and to make us God’s own.  Amen.

Good Friday                                    John 18:1 - 19:42
April 6, 2012
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved