Good
Friday Homily By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. John’s Episcopal
Church, Bainbridge, GA, 2015
Isaiah
52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42
As
we see Jesus hang on the cross today, we do not despair.
We
are
Easter people. We know what happens next!
We
hear & see things in 3s today, as we experience this 2nd
portion of the 3-part drama:
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & the Vigil that leads us to Easter.
● 3
times Peter says: I am not his disciple. I am not. I am not!
● Pilate
says 3 times, I find no case against him. I find no case...no case...
● The
Crowd cries: Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!
● The
crowd cries for Jesus' death at the 3rd
trial Jesus endures: an
informal trial by Annas,
a trial with Caiaphas the high priest, finally Pilate sits as
judge.
● Pilate
has the inscription on Jesus’ cross written in Hebrew, Latin &
Greek.
● We
have a trio of Marys near the cross: Jesus' mother, his aunt, &
his friend.
● Hanging
on the cross Jesus gives us a 3-fold lesson in being human:
He takes
care of his family.
He thirsts.
He completes his work.
1st
The Son
fulfills his
responsibility: He arranges for someone to take care of his mama. He
does this hanging on the cross.
Family duties often
call us when we feel pulled in all directions. Look to Jesus on the
cross.
2nd
Jesus says, “I am thirsty.” He admits his human need. He is like
us. We thirst, feel worn out, confused, bewildered. Rest.
Ask for help. Jesus’
understands. His disciples feel bewildered, confused as he is
arrested & snatched away. Why would we think we can avoid feeling
bewildered or confused as life goes awry?
3rd
Jesus declares once & for all: “It is finished.” His work
here is done. Humanity’s brokenness can start to heal. The barrier
we caused between us & God is torn down. God's Love triumphs. The
Love of God the Holy Trinity – Father, Son & Holy Spirit –
does not “fight to win...[Love] fights to love.”1
God
believes each of us is worth the effort. If God does not see us as
worth the effort, why would Jesus die on the cross? God loves you. No
exceptions. All are welcome.
This is the reality of the heart that stops beating on that cross.
The
heart of the matter IS
that
Jesus dies on that cross to create for us our new relationship with
God & with each other. In our new relationship, God writes God’s
law on our hearts. We read this in Hebrews. Some translations say: “I
will...inscribe
it upon their hearts.”2
God
inscribes
the law on stone tablets for Moses to take to the people. God
inscribes
the law on our hearts. In geometry to inscribe is “to
draw...one
figure within another figure so that the inner (is)
in the boundary of the outer at as many points as possible”3.
God
inscribes
God’s law on our hearts so that it IS
in the boundary of our hearts at as many points as possible. This
anchors
our hearts to God so that we can
know God more deeply
than we can know facts.
This anchors our
hearts to God so that we can remember that God forgives.
God blots out our sins & says: "I will remember (your) sins
no more."
In our technological age, God
erases
our sins so completely, they can’t be retrieved from God’s hard
drive.
One
way to erase a hard drive is to drive a nail into it. I am told
that's hard to do. It
is easier to drive a nail through human flesh & into the wood of
the cross to erase our sins from God’s memory.
God
forgives. God remembers no more. God renews
a right spirit – a steadfast4
spirit – within (us).”
With our renewed, steadfast spirit, we can
share the
Good News of God's powerful, healing Love. Whether
in big or small ways, we work with God to bring our fellow humans
into the freedom we enjoy.
Irritating as our brothers & sisters
in the human family can be, they are “not a problem to be solved
but...a mystery to be known.”5
Within
that irritating brother or sister “is an image-bearing soul, loved
by God & waiting to be known by you.
Building a relationship is always costly [just
ask Jesus],
but it's worth the cost because it's
an investment in another living soul.”6
On
the cross, Jesus lives fully the truth about us: You are an
investment worth the cost of my life.
Bibliography
The
American College Dictionary.
C.L. Barnhart, Ed. in Chief. New York: random House. 1966.
Barclay,
William. The Gospel of
John. Vol. 2. Revised
Edition. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Barclay,
William. The Letter to
the Hebrews. Revised
Edition. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1976.
Book
of Common Prayer. New
York: The Church Hymnal Corp., and The Seabury Press. 1979.
DeGroat, Chuck. toughest
people to love: how to understand, lead, and love the difficult
people in your life – including
yourself.
Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2014.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
The
Four Translation New Testament.
Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. 1966.
Handy
Dictionary of the Bible.
Ed.: Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
1965.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971.
Holy
Bible. New Revised
Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated, 1977.
2
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication
Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford
University Press. P. 991.
4
New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated. P. 695.
5
Ibid. DeGroat. P. 92.
6
Ibid.
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