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Sermon - Good Friday - 21th March 2008
St Aidan's West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; John 18:1-19:42
When we come to Good Friday we are in very familiar country. We have read the readings so many times before. We know the events in great detail. The gospel writers give us more information about the crucifixion than any other time in Jesus life. Its also true to say you’ve heard plenty of sermons on Good Friday. It’s a well-known story. But I challenge you to stay awake and to think yet again about these well-known events.
Why did the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Chief priest want to see Jesus executed? When they took Jesus before Pilate why did they demand the death sentence. Why did they think they had to do that? What had Jesus done that provoked such a reaction. I think the answer is found in the person of Jesus himself.
When we think about who he was and what he was teaching the Jewish leaders came to the conclusion that he had to die. Compare that to Pilate’s response. He had several questions for Jesus and none of the answers gave any concern for Pilate. Under Roman law Jesus had done nothing deserving death. According to that law there was no reason to crucify Jesus. But the Jews would never accept that. For too long they had wanted Jesus dead. When we understand who Jesus was we can understand why he had to die. We can compare this to the case of David Hicks who spent some time in the U.S. jail at Guantanamo in Cuba.
There has been a lot of debate about him in the media. What we notice is that the debate is around the character of the man. There are some who say he was just misguided. He was an innocent abroad looking for some adventure. That, in fact, he posed no danger to anyone. But there are others who say he is a terrorist.He trained as one. He kept bad company. He was a threat to the Western World and he should be locked up. So which version is the right one? I don’t know.
But we are asking the basic question, “Who is David Hicks?” If we knew the answer to that question then we might know how much of a threat he is to Australia. But we need to ask the same questions about Jesus.
Who is Jesus Christ?The first thing we can notice is how he lived. He obeyed the law – except the Sabbath. He kept the peace. He had 12 followers, but they stayed out of trouble. They didn’t form the centre for a group of revolutionaries. There was no confrontation with the authorities. Jesus certainly didn’t cause the trouble that Barabbas had. But then we come to what he did. His healings attracted so much attention. We can assume that thousands would have come to him for healing. Jesus spent much of his early ministry in the Galilee area and Northern Israel. It was only because of that that he didn’t attract much attention in Jerusalem.
But when he began to do his miracles in Jerusalem, he found himself in great trouble. Bethany was only a few miles from Jerusalem so all the leaders were able to witness the day when Jesus raised Lazarus from death. When they saw that, they knew Jesus had to die. Also he had to die because of what he had been telling the people. Jesus taught a new way of living as the people of God, particularly under Roman occupation.
The Jewish leaders had created an uneasy stand off between themselves and the Roman authorities. They always felt their position of power was under threat. But they soon learned that Jesus was undermining their power.
He quickly gained popularity both with his healing and his teaching. The people recognised that the power he had could only come from God. Yet he added to that some brand new teaching. It was a message of forgiveness and reconciliation that was by-passing the worship and sacrifices in the Temple. What was worse, Jesus dared to preach against the Temple. John notes that twice he cleansed the Temple saying it was meant as a house of prayer for all the nations,but the Jewish leaders had turned it into a den of thieves.
Then Jesus continued to speak about God as his father, and by this, making himself equal with God. The Pharisees had no trouble in finding reasons why Jesus should die. After the Pool of Siloam healing we read that they tried harder to kill him, not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own father. They could never accept that.
After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead the Pharisees concluded, “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our Temple and our nation.” These Jews were playing for high stakes and Jesus had to die.
But the next obstacle was Pilate. He had a reputation for frustrating the Jews. He took delight in taking a contrary position. When Jesus was presented to him as a revolutionary, at first he took it as a gift. He realised there was no threat to Rome from Jesus. Jesus himself confirmed it when he said his kingdom was not of this world. Pilate saw his opportunity and declared he saw no basis for a charge against Jesus. He could play his game again with the Jews. He even mocked them. “You take him and crucify him.”But he knew they had no power to do that. This was his game and he was enjoying himself.
But this time Pilate lost. He was out manoeuvred. The Jews said, “If you let this man go free, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. Pilate’s position in Rome was too weak. He couldn’t survive that charge. This is why he gave up the game and handed Jesus to them to be crucified. But the one who doesn’t protest this corrupt process is Jesus himself. He knew what he faced would be dreadful,but he also knew that this was why he had come.That’s why he said, “Now my heart is troubled,and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason
I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Jesus knew he had to die. He knew this was how to defeat evil. He knew this was how to forgive sins. He knew this was how to rescue the nation. He knew this was how to put the world right again. So, we meet to celebrate on this day, this dreadful day, this bloody story.Evil at its worst was confronted and defeated. Only by facing the depths of our brokenness, does Jesus do his best and wins for all the world the victory of God.