Good Friday Year A.
A sermon based on John 19:31-37
In the name of Jesus; amen.
They weren’t all dead. Some of the others who were crucified with Jesus still struggled to take their final breaths. And because it was a holy time for the Jews the religious leaders asked Pilate that the crucified men might be put out of their misery and taken down before the Sabbath began.
There are a lot of theories about how people were actual crucified: in what parts of the hands and feet the nails were driven, in what position they actually hung, and even what eventually killed them. But, when their legs were broken they died quickly.
There was a test for death. A Roman soldier would take his spear and stick it into the side of the body, sometimes far enough in to pierce the heart. I don’t know in which order this was done. Who came along first; the man with the instrument to bludgeon a man’s legs or the man with the instrument to skewer them in the side?
But they realized that Jesus already seemed dead and rather than expending energy to break his legs they stuck him in the side and at once blood and water came out.
There were at least two others who were crucified with Jesus, but they may not have been the only ones. There are stories that suggest that the roads around Jerusalem were often lined with old gnarled trees with bodies hanging from them. It was a purposeful act on the Roman’s part. It showed their power and their ability to keep Roman order in this occupied Jewish city.
And while Pilate, the Roman governor of the area, was not exactly sympathetic to the people he governed, he was savvy when it came to their religious rituals and how to maintain order during religious times. So, he gave the order for legs to be broken, for sides to be pierced, and dead bodies to be taken down.
If it seems cruel, it was. If it is seems brutal, it was. If is seems violent, it was.
And the last act of cruel, brutal, violence was done to satisfy a religious need for purity because dead bodies were unclean, because dead bodies on a cross were considered an abomination, and because no one wanted that in the middle of their holy and solemn time.
Jesus’ dead body was considered an abomination; something that needed to be taken away and hidden before sundown.
Death seems to be a thing best hidden away and avoided.
But on this day we face it in a unique and different way because this one death changes death. This abomination of cruel, brutal, violent death changes death.
Those gathered there on Golgotha couldn’t see it. For the soldiers it was their business. This was their job. For Jesus’ family it was tragedy. And in the reality of those gathered death was finalized in a gush of blood and water; a sign that now it was indeed finished. Jesus was dead and there was nothing left to do, but what ritual and custom and religion and business demanded.
But this one death changes death. It changes the ritual and the custom and the religion and the business that surrounds that moment, the moment when life is gone and only a body remains that needs to be dealt with.
Because we know the rest of the story we know that the spear is not the final word. Because we know the rest of the story we know that the business of putting away a lifeless body is not the final word.
Because we know the rest of the story we know that even death can not turn a person into an abomination. Because we know the rest of the story we know that even in the cruelest, most brutal and violent deaths God is present in holiness.
This dead, bloody, brutalized body is not the end and the need to remove what is considered unclean, to hide it away is replaced by a belief that even in that moment God was making things right again.
This solemn day of preparation becomes a day we call “good” because it prepares a place for us and for those we love.
Death is not the end; it is not final. There is a resurrection, not just for the man who died that day, but for all of us when our bodies are made whole even after the ravages of death.
This death changed death and because it changed death it also changed life and not just the life after death we believe in, but the life we live now.
Because this day invites us to look upon the one who was pierced we are invited into a life of looking at the one who loves us. The blood and water that flows out of Jesus’ wound flows into us. We have been drawn into the image of his death so that we are also a part of the image of his life.
We know the rest of this story so that we become a part of it. We know the rest of the story so that we can become a part of the healing, and the love, and the welcome, and acceptance that Jesus was in his life. Just as his death prepares us for our death his life prepares us for our own lives, lives meant for wholeness and service to God and to one another.
We know the rest of the story, because it is our story now. It is a story of holiness and goodness despite death. May you be blessed in your part of the story of this day. Amen.
A sermon based on John 19:31-37
In the name of Jesus; amen.
They weren’t all dead. Some of the others who were crucified with Jesus still struggled to take their final breaths. And because it was a holy time for the Jews the religious leaders asked Pilate that the crucified men might be put out of their misery and taken down before the Sabbath began.
There are a lot of theories about how people were actual crucified: in what parts of the hands and feet the nails were driven, in what position they actually hung, and even what eventually killed them. But, when their legs were broken they died quickly.
There was a test for death. A Roman soldier would take his spear and stick it into the side of the body, sometimes far enough in to pierce the heart. I don’t know in which order this was done. Who came along first; the man with the instrument to bludgeon a man’s legs or the man with the instrument to skewer them in the side?
But they realized that Jesus already seemed dead and rather than expending energy to break his legs they stuck him in the side and at once blood and water came out.
There were at least two others who were crucified with Jesus, but they may not have been the only ones. There are stories that suggest that the roads around Jerusalem were often lined with old gnarled trees with bodies hanging from them. It was a purposeful act on the Roman’s part. It showed their power and their ability to keep Roman order in this occupied Jewish city.
And while Pilate, the Roman governor of the area, was not exactly sympathetic to the people he governed, he was savvy when it came to their religious rituals and how to maintain order during religious times. So, he gave the order for legs to be broken, for sides to be pierced, and dead bodies to be taken down.
If it seems cruel, it was. If it is seems brutal, it was. If is seems violent, it was.
And the last act of cruel, brutal, violence was done to satisfy a religious need for purity because dead bodies were unclean, because dead bodies on a cross were considered an abomination, and because no one wanted that in the middle of their holy and solemn time.
Jesus’ dead body was considered an abomination; something that needed to be taken away and hidden before sundown.
Death seems to be a thing best hidden away and avoided.
But on this day we face it in a unique and different way because this one death changes death. This abomination of cruel, brutal, violent death changes death.
Those gathered there on Golgotha couldn’t see it. For the soldiers it was their business. This was their job. For Jesus’ family it was tragedy. And in the reality of those gathered death was finalized in a gush of blood and water; a sign that now it was indeed finished. Jesus was dead and there was nothing left to do, but what ritual and custom and religion and business demanded.
But this one death changes death. It changes the ritual and the custom and the religion and the business that surrounds that moment, the moment when life is gone and only a body remains that needs to be dealt with.
Because we know the rest of the story we know that the spear is not the final word. Because we know the rest of the story we know that the business of putting away a lifeless body is not the final word.
Because we know the rest of the story we know that even death can not turn a person into an abomination. Because we know the rest of the story we know that even in the cruelest, most brutal and violent deaths God is present in holiness.
This dead, bloody, brutalized body is not the end and the need to remove what is considered unclean, to hide it away is replaced by a belief that even in that moment God was making things right again.
This solemn day of preparation becomes a day we call “good” because it prepares a place for us and for those we love.
Death is not the end; it is not final. There is a resurrection, not just for the man who died that day, but for all of us when our bodies are made whole even after the ravages of death.
This death changed death and because it changed death it also changed life and not just the life after death we believe in, but the life we live now.
Because this day invites us to look upon the one who was pierced we are invited into a life of looking at the one who loves us. The blood and water that flows out of Jesus’ wound flows into us. We have been drawn into the image of his death so that we are also a part of the image of his life.
We know the rest of this story so that we become a part of it. We know the rest of the story so that we can become a part of the healing, and the love, and the welcome, and acceptance that Jesus was in his life. Just as his death prepares us for our death his life prepares us for our own lives, lives meant for wholeness and service to God and to one another.
We know the rest of the story, because it is our story now. It is a story of holiness and goodness despite death. May you be blessed in your part of the story of this day. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment