On a purely emotional level, it is easy to be deeply moved by the events that we remember this day. Jesus, who is good and righteous and caring, is viciously attacked, unjustly condemned, and suffers horribly at the hands of his executioners. It is easy to feel the pain on Jesus’ part, the horror on the part of his followers, and pure outrage over such an obvious miscarriage of justice. I suspect that we would have many of the same emotions if we were to watch these same events happen to somebody else -- especially somebody who is unjustly accused.

At the same time, the day becomes even more emotional if we know Jesus as the one who loves us, and who wants to heal us, and who is willing to give up his life for ours. If Jesus is our Lord and our Teacher and the one whom we love, then the abuse and the suffering that he experienced cuts right to our hearts. The same thing is true when we understand that Jesus submitted himself to this suffering out of love for you and for me. For those who feel things so acutely and so deeply, the response can only be one of love and gratitude.

Yet, not everybody will feel it so deeply, and some, who like to think things through, come to Good Friday with a whole pile of questions, not the least of which is, “Why?” In an attempt to at least partially answer these questions, here is what we can say based on the Scriptures. First of all, it was well within God’s power to rescue Jesus and to save him from this suffering and death. Jesus only had to say the word, and more than twelve legions of angels would have been at his command (Mt. 26:52-54). However, Jesus doesn’t do that. He understands that part of his mission is to submit himself to the suffering and death that he knows will come.

And so, why is this suffering and death necessary? One answer given in the Scriptures is that Jesus needed to share in our human condition in every way except for sin – including suffering and death (Heb. 4:15). The Scriptures also use the language of sacrifice. Hebrews, especially, talks about Jesus as having removed sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26). The idea is that Jesus, by living a life that was free from sin, gave himself as a perfect sacrifice which would break the power of sin over the whole human race.

All things considered, the things that happened to Jesus in today’s gospel illustrate graphically and truthfully what sin can do. It is sin that condemned an innocent man. It is sin that hurled insults and whipping and hammer blows at Jesus. It is sin that put Jesus on that cross and then laughed about it. This is the same sin that would have separated us from God forever, had it not been for Jesus – the God-Man – who lived among us in order to break sin’s power.

And so, through Jesus, we are reconciled with God and forgiven (2 Cor. 5:18-19). Our lives do not need to be consumed by sin and self-interest. There are so many different aspects of sin that can rule our lives: greed, addictions, violence, pride, over-consumption, abuse, insults, or simply being turned in on ourselves. These are the same things that sent Jesus to the cross, but his love is more powerful than all of them. Our lives can be ruled by sin, or they can be ruled by Jesus Christ. And Jesus, because of his experiences, rules with love and compassion.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).

Today’s events were not the end of the story, for not even death could destroy God’s love for us. Instead, Jesus was raised to where he can continue to minister to us and to intercede on our behalf. Thanks be to God for the gift of his Son. Amen.

Good Friday John 18:1-19:42
March 21, 2008 Hebrews 4:14-16
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved