Good Friday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
1. The trial of Jesus dragged on, went from one person of authority to another - Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate. Could it be that no one wanted to take responsibility for condemning Jesus to death? They all knew that he was innocent and had been framed by those who wanted to get rid of him.
2. The trial was a farce - comical, if it hadn't had such tragic results - the crucifixion of the Christ. And not only that, it was probably illegal, according to Jewish law, and Roman law would not have condemned Jesus on such evidence. What would the Emperor and the Roman Senate have thought about Pilate's dispensation of Jesus' case had there been time for them to consider it? And did Pilate's career come to a screeching halt then and there?
3. Jesus' death was real - his agony and suffering were intense. Thank God that he didn't suffer very long - six hours, at the most. And those were wonderful words he spoke on the cross as he hung there before them: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," and to the repentant thief, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" and, at the end, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" - and he died in peace.
4. No wonder the centurion said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And the crowd of people, many of whom had cried out, "Crucify! Crucify!", realized what they had participated in - too late. And Luke alone writes about them: "And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts."
5. What they did to Jesus is enough to make some of us ask, especially on Good Friday, "Should we, too, be beating our breasts over the pain our sins have caused him?" If so, it is time for our deaths, too, the ashes again, but in repentance, knowing that his "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" includes us, too!
The Easter Season
Easter is the heart of the Christian year. It is also the foundation of the Christian faith, because the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day as he said he would be. Without the resurrection, our faith, as Paul said, "would be in vain." We would still be sinners who could only look ahead to death without hope. Accordingly, it is the nuclear action that God the Father took in light of the cross to justify human beings and redeem them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter is a day and also a season. Easter was all the early church had in the way of festivals. It was celebrated every Sunday, almost from the beginning of the Christian era, as a weekly observation of the death and resurrection of the Lord. Soon it was expanded into the great 50 days, the Pasch. When this happened, the church year began to take shape. The gospels give the reason for the expansion in the 40-day sequence to the Ascension of the Lord, 50 days to the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost.
Easter Sunday is a kind of Super Sunday which gives its kerygmatic content to each Sunday, so that every Sunday of the church year is the Ogdoad, the eighth day. or the new day of creation. God has said, "Behold, I make all things new." He did in Jesus' resurrection. As a season, Easter is a "week of Sundays" - seven Sundays are included in the season. These Sundays are enumerated as the Sundays of Easter, not as in the old church year and lectionary, Sundays after Easter. (It should be noted, too, that the older Latin names for the Sundays have been discarded in favor of simply numbering the Sundays as "of Easter.") More than anything else, this emphasizes for the church today that Easter is not simply one Sunday, or even simply a Super Sunday; it is a 50-day season of triumph, joy, and hope, because "Christ is risen, as he said."
The Ascension of Our Lord comes on the 40th day of Easter to mark the completion of the resurrection, on one hand, and the beginning of his reign, on the other. Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter because it brings closure to Easter as a season while celebrating the advent of the Holy Spirit. The festival of Christ the King, which concludes the Pentecost season, affirms again that the risen and ascended Lord will continue to reign until he comes in glory at the end of the age. That is why the Scottish liturgical scholar, A. Allan McArthur, said that Easter is not merely a seven-week period of "special rejoicing," but that it is also "a symbol of this whole world epoch ... which is bounded on one hand by the Resurrection and Ascension, and on the other hand by the second coming - the consummation of the Kingdom which shall have no end." (The Evolution of the Christian Year, p. 165)
Every sermon stands on the foundation of the Easter event, the death and resurrection of the Lord. Gustave Wingren wrote (The Living Word): "The early Christian kerygma of Christ's work in death and resurrection has demonstrated, as no other factor in human history has, that it holds the power of renewing the Sunday preaching. In analyzing the essential nature of preaching It is impossible to overlook that. The message of the cross and the resurrection is the main pillar, not only of missionary preaching, but of preaching, in general." The good news, which every Christian needs to hear every Sunday of the year, is that Jesus died on Calyary's cross, but God raised him up on the third day, giving us hope of forgiveness and eternal life in his loving and gracious action. Articulated, or unarticulated, the resurrection is central to all Christian preaching.
2. The trial was a farce - comical, if it hadn't had such tragic results - the crucifixion of the Christ. And not only that, it was probably illegal, according to Jewish law, and Roman law would not have condemned Jesus on such evidence. What would the Emperor and the Roman Senate have thought about Pilate's dispensation of Jesus' case had there been time for them to consider it? And did Pilate's career come to a screeching halt then and there?
3. Jesus' death was real - his agony and suffering were intense. Thank God that he didn't suffer very long - six hours, at the most. And those were wonderful words he spoke on the cross as he hung there before them: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," and to the repentant thief, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" and, at the end, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" - and he died in peace.
4. No wonder the centurion said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And the crowd of people, many of whom had cried out, "Crucify! Crucify!", realized what they had participated in - too late. And Luke alone writes about them: "And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts."
5. What they did to Jesus is enough to make some of us ask, especially on Good Friday, "Should we, too, be beating our breasts over the pain our sins have caused him?" If so, it is time for our deaths, too, the ashes again, but in repentance, knowing that his "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" includes us, too!
The Easter Season
Easter is the heart of the Christian year. It is also the foundation of the Christian faith, because the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day as he said he would be. Without the resurrection, our faith, as Paul said, "would be in vain." We would still be sinners who could only look ahead to death without hope. Accordingly, it is the nuclear action that God the Father took in light of the cross to justify human beings and redeem them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter is a day and also a season. Easter was all the early church had in the way of festivals. It was celebrated every Sunday, almost from the beginning of the Christian era, as a weekly observation of the death and resurrection of the Lord. Soon it was expanded into the great 50 days, the Pasch. When this happened, the church year began to take shape. The gospels give the reason for the expansion in the 40-day sequence to the Ascension of the Lord, 50 days to the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost.
Easter Sunday is a kind of Super Sunday which gives its kerygmatic content to each Sunday, so that every Sunday of the church year is the Ogdoad, the eighth day. or the new day of creation. God has said, "Behold, I make all things new." He did in Jesus' resurrection. As a season, Easter is a "week of Sundays" - seven Sundays are included in the season. These Sundays are enumerated as the Sundays of Easter, not as in the old church year and lectionary, Sundays after Easter. (It should be noted, too, that the older Latin names for the Sundays have been discarded in favor of simply numbering the Sundays as "of Easter.") More than anything else, this emphasizes for the church today that Easter is not simply one Sunday, or even simply a Super Sunday; it is a 50-day season of triumph, joy, and hope, because "Christ is risen, as he said."
The Ascension of Our Lord comes on the 40th day of Easter to mark the completion of the resurrection, on one hand, and the beginning of his reign, on the other. Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter because it brings closure to Easter as a season while celebrating the advent of the Holy Spirit. The festival of Christ the King, which concludes the Pentecost season, affirms again that the risen and ascended Lord will continue to reign until he comes in glory at the end of the age. That is why the Scottish liturgical scholar, A. Allan McArthur, said that Easter is not merely a seven-week period of "special rejoicing," but that it is also "a symbol of this whole world epoch ... which is bounded on one hand by the Resurrection and Ascension, and on the other hand by the second coming - the consummation of the Kingdom which shall have no end." (The Evolution of the Christian Year, p. 165)
Every sermon stands on the foundation of the Easter event, the death and resurrection of the Lord. Gustave Wingren wrote (The Living Word): "The early Christian kerygma of Christ's work in death and resurrection has demonstrated, as no other factor in human history has, that it holds the power of renewing the Sunday preaching. In analyzing the essential nature of preaching It is impossible to overlook that. The message of the cross and the resurrection is the main pillar, not only of missionary preaching, but of preaching, in general." The good news, which every Christian needs to hear every Sunday of the year, is that Jesus died on Calyary's cross, but God raised him up on the third day, giving us hope of forgiveness and eternal life in his loving and gracious action. Articulated, or unarticulated, the resurrection is central to all Christian preaching.
