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Good Friday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt, April 14, 2017


The Passion of Christ


Text: John 18:1–19:47

Tonight we have gathered together to remember the darkest day in human history. This was the day when those who called themselves the “children of God” conspired with Satan to humiliate– torture and put to death the Son of God. Often people ask why this day would be called Good Friday when something so dark and terrible happened. We come into the church and find the altar stripped and the cross draped in black symbolizing the hopelessness felt by the disciples of Jesus. There is no Eucharist because tonight is not a celebration but a remembrance of that day long ago when our Savior suffered and died on our behalf. The cross was not the symbol of victory but of defeat in the most humiliating way. The prophets had foretold all that the Messiah would go through on behalf of sinners as we read in Isaiah 53:3–6,

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,  smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I must confess that I used to feel like I was acting when I came to a Good Friday service pretending to be all tore up about Jesus being crucified today and now freshly laid in the tomb. I knew that it actually happened over 2,000 years ago but more importantly I knew what happened on Sunday, the third day, when he rose again. It was suggested to me that I should focus on my sin which was why Jesus had to go to the cross in the first place and Good Friday was the proper time to contemplate my part in that. I saw the point of that but I really felt that I should be aware of my sin and the need of righteousness every day. If I love the Lord then I should reflect on and confess my sins daily. Isn’t that part of following the daily office, we confess our sins daily. It wasn’t until I went into full time ministry and was called upon to preach on Good Friday that I decided that I needed to ask the Lord to reveal to me what the focus should be on Good Friday. When I prayed God caused me to remember when I was a child there was a period when I used to have terrible nightmares and I would wake up lying in bed trembling in the dark. I remember desperately wanting morning to arrive so the light would shine in through the window and I would be able to see that everything was alright, I was safe. As long as it was dark I was afraid to even cry out lest I awaken the awful thing lurking in my room. That was a long time ago so I had forgotten about that darkness and how I felt so alone and hopeless. As I contemplated what God had reminded me of I saw this memory pointing me to two things that pertain to Good Friday.

The first was how Jesus was made to experience a darkness that I will never have to know because he took it upon himself. As we read in Isaiah 53 and in the Gospel everyone turned away from him, even his disciples ran away out of fear for their lives. Those who had earlier welcomed him to Jerusalem as their king now joined with the religious leaders in conspiring to have him beaten unmercifully, scourged, spit upon, mocked and crucified and there was not anyone able or willing to come to his aid, not even his Father who was in Heaven. Consider Isaiah 53:10, Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief…

And Psalm 22:1–2,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?     Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

It was Psalm 22 that Jesus cried out while on the cross at the moment when the Father turned away from him. In Matthew 27:46 we read,

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This cry reflected the depth of Jesus’ distress as he endured the pain of separation from His Father. Later the disciples would realize that Jesus was enduring the curse of God’s judgment on sin- the full, furious and dreadful wrath of Almighty God. This was all the more agonizing to Jesus because he had enjoyed an eternal joyful and totally unified relationship with the Father. The darkness that he experienced was total and there was no hope that relief was coming from anywhere. He would be made to experience the full wrath of God and the terror and hopelessness of Hell where God is completely absent. You and I have no way of understanding a darkness that is so complete and so totally without hope. Jesus knowingly took this punishment upon himself so that we wouldn’t have to. That is why the somberness of Good Friday is called for and also why it is called good. By good, it is not an expression of our approval but that this day is holy. We often fail to consider the consequences of our sins or have a true understanding of how deep they can be imbedded in our hearts. A great example of this darkness and the depth of human depravity is in John 19:31,

Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

The day of Jesus’ crucifixion was the day that all the preparations for the Sabbath had to be done and this was not an ordinary Sabbath but the Passover Sabbath. According to the Jewish law if there were bodies left on crosses during this time it would defile the land. You’ll notice that the Jews were willing to join forces with Rome to commit murder but then felt compelled to turn around and insist that the Jewish ceremonial law be enforced. So they requested that the legs be broken so death would come much quicker. Without the legs to hold up the body a person would literally suffocate because they could not intake enough air. They had gotten their way and Jesus was dead, problem solved.

When they came to Jesus to break his legs the guards realized that he was already dead and so they pierced his side with a spear to make sure. John places this detail in the story as a way of showing that all these things happened according to the will of God and to dispel any rumor that Jesus was not actually dead. Everything was going according to plan but not the one set out by the Pharisees, this was the plan of God set down before the foundations of the earth.

The Old Testament reading from Isaiah 53:5, “but He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken”, which fulfilled the requirements of Numbers 9:12 where the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed but not one of his bones could be broken. Remember John the Baptist speaking through the Holy Spirit recognized Jesus in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”.

Now upon the cross the perfect sacrificial lamb has been slain. Our Epistle reading from Hebrews 10:5–7; 10–12,

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.’ 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’…10And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…

So the first reason that I should focus on my sin on Good Friday is because Jesus loved me enough to take my punishment and experience what I deserved and that is not something to take lightly or forget but it demands my reflection and recommitment to loving obedience to God.

The second thing that the Lord wanted me to contemplate on Good Friday is what the disciples went through as they saw their Lord and hope placed in the tomb. There may have been some moments when Jesus was hanging on the cross that some were hoping that he would suddenly move in power and come down to defeat the enemy, but when they took down his lifeless body and placed it in the tomb all hope was gone. I suspect that fear became their constant companion as they wondered what would happen to them because they had been Jesus’ disciples. None of the Gospels comment on what the disciples were thinking or feeling during that time but I can imagine that they were numb with grief and hopelessness. Everything they cared about was gone- their dreams, their view of God had to be shattered and they most likely felt betrayed by Jesus. The one thing that had to be nagging at their conscience was the fact that they had all run away. They were most likely asking themselves things like: “What if we had stayed and fought valiantly? Would God have given us the strength like David’s mighty men of 30? Wouldn’t it have been better to die fighting than to run away like cowards?” I can’t bear to consider what was going through Peter’s mind as his thoughts returned over and over to the fact that he had denied that he even knew Jesus three times. How could he ever get past this? How could he live with the shame and the guilt and the judgment of others? Where could he go and hide? I am sure that they were inconsolable and I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t a few arguments or fights that weekend. There just didn’t seem to be any good thing that would come out of all these events, just darkness and despair.

Have you ever had something so traumatic happen to you that you could not see any way out or forward? I have and it was overwhelming and consumed every thought and darkened every possibility that I could think of. I didn’t know if I would live through it or if I even wanted to. Just like the disciples, Jesus came to my rescue and the overwhelming darkness began to recede and light shown into my life again. One of the most important points that we can take away from Good Friday is that there are many, many, people around us who are enveloped in that kind of darkness. There are many in our own community who see no reason to hope for the future and they live trying to embrace anything that will get them through the day. No matter what it is, it never satisfies the need that only Jesus can fill and so they continue to spiral down into darkness and hopelessness.

Tonight we reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross and also our need to lay hold of that sacrifice by faith, trusting him to shine light into the darkness of our own hearts and those around us. It is also a reminder that the gospel is the message of hope and salvation for everyone who will receive it and we are the messengers. This day is a reminder that on the darkest of days Jesus made a way for us by sacrificing his own perfect life. That is why this day is good and it is holy and the reason for living. In Jesus name. Amen.

©2017 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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