SERMON
Good Friday - March 25, 2016
Christ Church, St. Michael's Parish
As baptized Christians we are
accountable to an intentional way of thinking; an intentional way of behaving; an
intentional way of living that is directed by Christ within us and Christ with
us. Our baptismal anointing calls us to seek Christ, in ourselves and in
others, continually, as we travel into the world to abolish darkness and
despair.
Just a few short weeks ago, in
my Christmas Day sermon, I marveled at God’s amazing gift, saying:
“This Christmas Day, I pray that you will
be thrilled by the presence of the angel of the Lord. I pray that the command
to “go and see” will ring loud in your ears and that you will, with the eyes of
your heart, visit Bethlehem and experience the joy and hope of gazing at the
infant child – the baby Jesus. I pray that you will be re-invigorated –
re-energized – in your call as a member of the Christ Church community to go
into the world and to spread the Good News.”
That was a sermon filled
with excitement, joy, and hope. It was a sermon that called people to be
thrilled by the presence of the angel of God. It was a sermon that emphasized
God’s “amazing gift.” It was a sermon that called us to experience, in every
sense of the word, the very real presence of the incarnate Jesus in our lives.
It was a sermon that called us to action – the action of “going and seeing”
with the goal of being thrilled, amazed, joyous, re-invigorated, re-energized, and
renewed in our life as disciples of Jesus.
In the ensuing weeks, as
post-modern disciples, we watched and listened as Jesus was baptized, and as he
began his journey from the river Jordon to Jerusalem and
the cross. We watched and
listened to Jesus teach and heal. We came to know him as:
·
The bread of life – The one who
spiritually sustains us.
·
The light of the world – The one through whom
we gain spiritual understanding and wisdom for living.
·
The gate – The one who has given
us free and unlimited access to the Kingdom of God.
·
The good shepherd – The one who gives his
life for those who follow him.
·
The resurrection and the
life –
The one who has guaranteed our eternal life with God.
·
The way, the truth, and
the life
– The one who shows us the way of life.
·
The vine – The one without whom we
cannot sustain ourselves in his way of life.
Luke summarizes Jesus’
impact on the world with staggering simplicity, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. The poor have good news preached to
them.” (Luke 7:22)
And now, we stand at the
foot of the cross, stunned by the violence of the crucifixion and sensing, no
not sensing but knowing, that without Jesus with us we are lost in a dark
wilderness and filled with anxiety, fear, and despair. We stand at the foot of
the cross grieving – deeply grieving.
What does this intense
grieving moment of Good Friday teach us about our relationship with Jesus? Why
does it matter?
This brief and deeply
grief-filled moment at the foot of the cross is, I believe, pivotal to our
lives as Christians. It is the moment in which we watch Jesus, in his
incredible love for us, give his life - turn his life over - to the Father. It is the moment in which Jesus’ love for us
brings death to him while at the same time bringing freedom to us – freedom to “Love
the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our minds.
And, freedom to love our neighbors as ourselves.” Freedom to love others as Jesus loved us, and continues
to love us - Freedom to go out into the world in love as a light in the
darkness.
To allow
ourselves to experience this grief moment fully, quietly and prayerfully - to
burn with the pain of its intensity- is critical. Without mourning the loss of
Jesus - without this painful grieving moment - we will not have the passion,
the energy, or the will to move forward into a way of life that reflects our
identity as true Disciples of Christ. We must confront the deep pain of the
present reality – Jesus not with us - mourn his
loss,
understand the true love that led to his crucifixion if we are to find our way
forward not in grief, but in love, into the world and with action that knows no
fear – words and deeds that bring light into the darkness.
What is
the importance of our relationship with Jesus? Just that – it is a
relationship. It is a relationship founded by and grounded in the most profound
form of love – agape - a love that
endures sacrifice, hardship, and death on the cross – a love that is passionate
in the face of injustice – a love that seeks to reconcile the world to God.
Through
our baptism God has anointed us for the work of Christian ministry. In our baptismal anointing we
are united with Christ and enabled, entrusted, and empowered to accomplish
God's will as we discern it to be.
Jesus is our vine – our
lifeblood; we are his branches – his offspring; his heirs left behind at the
foot of the cross. He will be with us – always. We are to abide in him – to
gain our strength through him - always.
Pope
Leo I in the late Fifth Century in his Good Friday Sermon preached on this
relationship, saying:
“…So my dear people, as we celebrate this
profound mystery of our redemption, let us acknowledge the teaching of God’s
Spirit, the glory we are called to share, and the hope into which we have
entered. We must not allow the activities of our life to fill us with anxiety
or pride, so that we are unable to strive with our
whole being to be conformed to the pattern
of our Redeemer, and to walk in his way. He has achieved and suffered
everything necessary for our salvation, so that the power which was in the Head
might also be found in us, his body.”
This
grieving moment at the foot of the cross will soon be over and we will be
distracted by the excitement and joy of the resurrection. In this distraction,
let us not forget the love that has been entrusted to us by the one who loved
us beyond comprehension, and the one who loves us always. AMEN
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