Tonight we gather around the cross…remembering Jesus, who was tortured and executed. We gather around the cross…with John and Jesus’ mother, with Mary Magdalene and the soldier in charge…and the thief who shared his sentence.
And for me, the hardest part of this night isn’t how awful this thing was that happened to Jesus once upon a time….rather…the hard part is knowing that it still happens today..that is keeps on happening…..every day. Today…every day….mothers and friends are grieving over loved ones who have been violated and abused by those who hold power over them. The mothers of children who have been hunted, raped, killed by gangs in El Salvador….the friends of the young woman in Bangladesh who was burned alive for accusing her teacher of abuse. Crucifixions happen every day…crucifixion is the story of every lynching of a black man or woman or child in the south. It is the story of every Jew living under the third Reich. It is the story of the Muslims in Myanmar…the Buddhists in Tibet…the homosexuals in Nigeria. Every day in human history has seen the evils of human brutality. And in every age, soldiers have struggled to reconcile the violence they inflicted in the name of their leaders. After every single war….in every single country…as far back as written history goes…men and women have been haunted by the things they had to do that defied their own sense of right and wrong…all for the sake of “justice.” …and have never been the same.
No the hardest part of Good Friday isn’t looking at Jesus’ cross. It’s looking at the cross…and realizing we’re still crucifying one another.
We still persist with this kind of ugly violence….directed at people who make us uncomfortable – at people we want to keep quiet. Although, most of the time, we try not to look at it. But tonight… because it is Jesus…we look. And what we see is the idiocy of our human cruelty and the stupidity of our constant need to find someone to blame and to punish. We think we are so righteous — keeping the peace — protecting our “way of life”….but, in the end, all that happens is the suffering of God.
Over and over, people decide — Who is to blame? Who can we get rid of…to make the problem go away? To restore our way of life…to keep the peace. Is it the Jews? The Gyspies? Is it the heretics? The Foreigners? The Natives?
We’re so sure…everything will be okay if we just get rid of them. Make an example of them. Pilate was sure this was the solution. The Chief priest was sure this was the solution. One man should die for the sake of the people. So they had Jesus crucified.
Sometimes we tell this story of Good Friday like it is some sort of holy transaction — God paying a debt we owe by killing his son. But that isn’t what’s happening. No…Good Friday is the story of how our human thirst for blood in the name of righteousness… stupidly kills God every single time.
In his memoir “Night” Elie Wiesel, tells of the hanging of a young boy when he was at Aushwitz. Another prisoner, who had understandably lost his faith in the midst of the horrors of the camp, asked Weisel how he could see this child suffer and die and still believe in God. Where is your God? He asked. And Weisel replied — “There…hanging on the gallows. There is God.”
Where is God…we ask? There…hanging on the gallows. Hanging from the lynching tree. Hanging on the cross. The victim of our fear and hate and misguided justice.
Good Friday is hard….because we have to stop and look at ourselves…at our pettiness and fear…at the violence we justify.
But it is also hard because of the despair that sometimes takes hold in the face of all that is wrong in the world. If this kind of evil still persists….what hope do we have?
But that’s the point isn’t it? Our hope is in Jesus ..who did not abandon us to our stupidity and evil…but stayed on the cross. Who stayed on the cross and stays on our gallows and who thirsts with us and suffers with us. Our hope is in Jesus….who did not leave us to ourselves — who did not give up on us. But who loved us still. Who forgave us when we didn’t have a clue….when we still don’t have a clue…what we are doing.
Our hope is in Jesus…God with us. Jesus…who says’’It is finished”…Jesus who finishes our stupid blame game that nobody wins…and calls us beloved. Jesus, who keeps giving us to each other …to love.
Yes…Our hope is in Jesus…
This night…is hard. But our hope…is in Jesus. Who lives.
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