Good Friday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Hebrews 10:16-25
John 18:1--19:42
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Hebrews 4:4-14; 5:7-9
John 18:1--19:42
Episcopal
Isaiah 52:13--53:13 or Genesis 22:1-18
Hebrews 10:1-25
John (18:1-40) 19:1-37
Theme For The Day
Do not look away from the cross: for there we see the fullest expression of God's love.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
The Fourth Servant Song
In this, the fourth of his famous servant songs, Isaiah describes an unfortunate victim whose appearance is "marred ... beyond human semblance" (52:14). Perhaps more than any of the other servant songs, Christians are inclined to identify this dying figure with that of Christ on the cross, because of what this great poem says theologically about suffering that brings redemption to others: "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed" (53:4-5).
Yet the match, while close, is not perfect. Inevitably, Isaiah's words must have had meaning for the people of his own day, quite apart from what subsequent generations would come to see in them. The following lines in particular are an imperfect match with the figure of Christ, for what they say about the suffering servant "seeing his offspring": "When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days" (53:10).
In the context of the limited Jewish conception of individual afterlife prevalent at the time of Isaiah, it is hard to see this section as applying to any individual person. It is more likely that it refers to the nation Israel, personified as a human being; or, more specifically, to the cultural elite of Judah who went through a death-like experience in their Babylonian captivity, and who only at the time of return are collectively able to "see their offspring" or "prolong their days." A problem that was undoubtedly present at the time of the return from exile was the reintegration of the returnees with those who had remained behind. Speaking to this problem, Isaiah evidently sees the suffering of the exiles as vicariously redemptive for the residents of Babylonian-occupied Judah (whose lives, while far from easy, were still not characterized by outright captivity). Inasmuch as Isaiah sees Cyrus of Persia as God's instrument in releasing the exiles (44:28; 45:1; 45:13), it is possible that the first-person plural voice ("Surely he has borne our infirmities") is that of not only those who remained in Jerusalem but also the nations of the world -- who in the prophet's imagination are coming to see Israel's suffering as redemptive for all humanity. Christian preachers need to be cautious in making too quick an identification of Isaiah's suffering servant with Jesus Christ; while we can affirm that his role was very much like this servant figure, it is important to preserve the original sense of these poems, however ambiguous the identity of their central figure may be.
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 10:16-25
Jesus, The High Priest, Reveals What Was Once Hidden
Alluding in verse 16 to Jeremiah's new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31), the author declares -- accurately, in light of the then-recent Roman destruction of the temple -- that the temple sacrifices once performed by the old high priest are no more (v. 18). Therefore, Christians are now -- metaphorically speaking -- able to enter the once-forbidden sanctuary "by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain ..." (v. 19b-20a). Christians may enter the holy of holies "in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" -- an allusion to the blood-sprinkling rites of the priestly ordination and Day of Atonement rituals described in Exodus 29:19-21 and Leviticus 16:14-19 (and now replaced by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus), and also to Christian baptism (v. 22). This passage ends with an appeal to community: "... not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another ..." (v. 25a).
Alternate New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Jesus, The Great High Priest
An alternate option for this day is two earlier passages from Hebrews, about the role of Jesus as high priest (the second of the two, from chapter 5, has already come up in the lectionary on the Fifth Sunday In Lent, see p. 95). "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin" (4:15).
The Gospel
John 18:1--19:42
John's Passion Account
This lengthy section of John's passion narrative begins with Jesus' trial before Pilate and continues through his burial. This long lesson could be read in its entirety -- in which case there may not be time for more than the most perfunctory sermon -- or a smaller portion of it could be chosen for a more intense focus. The section describing the crucifixion (19:16b-30) is especially appropriate for a more focused treatment on this day, for obvious reasons. As with the Nativity stories -- which have some similarities among them, but also some widely differing details -- it is best to avoid harmonization, concentrating instead on what a single text says. This may be a challenge in certain liturgical settings -- such as the ubiquitous "Seven Last Words" Good Friday services, in which individual verses are lifted out of context and combined with those from other biblical books -- but it is still the most textually faithful way of approaching these materials. As for John's account, there is mention of Jesus carrying his cross (but not of Simon of Cyrene assisting -- v. 17). There is crucifixion alongside two others (but no mention of them being thieves -- v. 18). John has the fullest account of Pilate's posting of the sign inscribed "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" -- fullest both in terms of the length of the inscription and the account of how it came to be written. John alone includes the detail about the chief priests objecting to the wording, and of Pilate refusing to make changes, saying, "What I have written, I have written" (v. 22). The detail of the seamless tunic (v. 23) is unique to John, although all four gospel accounts include the soldiers' casting of lots for his clothing (alluding to Psalm 22:18). Only John has the three Marys standing directly at the foot of the cross (or possibly four women, depending on whether Jesus' aunt and "Mary the wife of Clopas" are one person or two). The detail of Jesus assigning "the disciple whom Jesus loved" to care for his mother is also unique to John (vv. 26-27). In common with Matthew and Mark, John includes the detail of the sponge full of sour wine -- though only John has the soldiers place it on "a branch of hyssop" (an allusion to either Exodus 12:22 or Psalm 51:7). At the end, Jesus says, "It is finished" and gives up his spirit (v. 30). There is a sense in which he is in control of the entire process right up to the end. Of the four gospel writers, John's Jesus is the most aloof, displaying not the least sign of pain or despair (except perhaps for his expression of thirst in v. 28, which John explains as necessary "to fulfill the scriptures").
Preaching Possibilities
Good Friday is among the most challenging of days for preachers, but also among the most rewarding. Those who come for Good Friday services are, for the most part, highly committed believers, who refuse to let themselves be cowed by the secular culture's tendency to avoid all that is painful or unpleasant in life. Most will have come because they understand the importance of reflecting on the enormity of Jesus' sacrifice. It is well to remind the people -- in a restrained and not a maudlin way -- of the Savior's pain: although this is a difficult task if John's Gospel provides the text, because he tends to downplay the human elements of the crucifixion -- being more concerned (as he is throughout his gospel) with presenting abstract theological ideas.
John's passion account requires special care, also, because his collective statements about "the Jews" easily lend themselves to anti-Jewish assumptions on the part of listeners who may be inclined to think in prejudicial terms. It is, in fact, possible to substitute the words "the religious authorities" or "the religious leaders" for "the Jews" throughout John's passion narrative, and do no violence to his central meaning. It is absurd to blame the Jews, as a people, for Jesus' death, when Jesus was himself a faithful, observant Jew. John's use of this label reflects the highly charged atmosphere of persecution in which he lived, in which Christians -- including many Christians of Jewish origin -- were being abandoned by reactionary groups, and in some cases turned over by them to the Romans. John's church had begun to distance itself from Judaism as a matter of survival, and his frequent references to "the Jews" say more about his polemical attitude toward his contemporary opponents than about Jerusalem's population during the days just before the crucifixion.
Above all, it is best to avoid the saccharine proclamation, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" To touch down briefly on Golgotha and immediately leap from there to the empty tomb does no justice to the gospel writers, who relate the details of the Savior's death for a reason. Soberly "surveying the wondrous cross" on Good Friday is as much a part of the Christian devotional life as singing "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" on Easter morn. Sunday's coming, to be sure -- but today's Friday, and we need to live through it.
In the words of a contemporary folk hymn of Scotland's Iona Community, the church's task on Good Friday is to:
Wonder and stare,
Fear and beware,
Heaven and Hell are close at hand.
God's living word,
Jesus the Lord,
Follows where faith and love demand.
Prayer For The Day
We remember your passion, Lord. It seems you're always on your cross, and your children cringing in some hole while bombs burst, or cheated in some supermarket, refused in some bank, or cursed in some crowd; dying one way or another. And you refuse to quit your suffering and your crawling down into the holes where we hide, and you call us to share your suffering, but to remember the third day, and to keep moving. We give thanks for that. Amen.
-- John Vannorsdall
To Illustrate
One of the most famous crucifixion images in Christian art is a panel from what's called the Grunewald Altarpiece. It was painted in the village of Isenheim, Germany, in the early 1500s. What's so famous about this painting is the graphic detail with which the artist, Matthias Grunewald, portrays Jesus' sufferings.
This painter doesn't hold back -- not one bit. Those viewing the painting for the first time are apt to react very much like several small figures the artist paints off to one side. John, the beloved disciple, has turned his face away in revulsion. Just at that moment, he's catching the fainting Mary, mother of Jesus, as she passes out. Just in front of them, Mary Magdalene has collapsed to her knees, hands clenched high above her head in anguished prayer.
They're reacting to the visible sufferings of Jesus. There he hangs, pulled down by a misery so great that it bends the very crossbeam to which he's nailed. His mouth is gaping, his breath gasping. His fingers have become like claws surrounding the cruel spikes driven through the palms, and he's so emaciated he looks like a concentration camp inmate. Jesus' entire body is covered with hundreds of welts and wounds.
This altarpiece might well have been displayed in any great cathedral in the Middle Ages -- for graphic portrayals of the crucifixion were common in those days. But this painting was never designed to hang in a church. It was created, instead, for the chapel of a hospital. It was hung in such a way that patients could contemplate it from their beds.
Now the sight of such a gruesome painting may not sound very therapeutic, but, in fact, it is. The patients in that particular hospital, in the early 1500s, were suffering from a dreaded plague that had swept the continent of Europe. The wounds on the body of the crucified Jesus are identical to the symptoms of this plague. That meant the patients of the hospital could gaze up at the altarpiece and see there a Lord who, in the words of Isaiah, "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." They would realize, then, there was no suffering they could undergo that had not already been experienced in full by their Lord and Savior.
***
J. Barrie Shepherd, retired pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York City, tells the story of a time when he was flying back to the USA after a visit to his native Scotland. It so happened that, on that day, Shepherd was carrying back, for his church, a large Celtic cross from the Isle of Iona.
He had wrapped the cross carefully in layers of paper and padding. Not trusting the baggage handlers, he thought it best to carry it onto the plane himself. As he approached the airport X-ray machine, the guards eyed him up and down: his bundle looked suspiciously like an automatic weapon. When the image of a two-foot-tall Celtic cross appeared on the X-ray screen, the guards relaxed.
Early the next morning, Shepherd and his fellow passengers made their way into the customs area of New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "Do you have anything to declare?" asked the customs agent.
"Only this cross," Shepherd replied, still sleepy from his long flight. The agent looked down and scribbled something on a form in front of him. It was only later that Shepherd got to see what he had written: "Item of a sentimental nature, of little or no value."
The customs agent's words were significant. The words he wrote down were perhaps correct from the standpoint of bureaucratic regulations, but in a theological sense they were all wrong. Yet isn't that description -- "Item of a sentimental nature, of little or no value" -- exactly what the world thinks of the cross of Jesus?
Unfortunately, it is. On Good Friday, the customs officer's question is put, disturbingly and directly, to every Christian: "Do you have anything to declare?"
What will we say, in reply?
***
I remember being at a retreat once where the leader asked us to think of someone who represented Christ in our lives. When it came time to share our answers, one woman stood up and said, "I had to think hard about that one. I kept thinking, 'Who is it who told me the truth about myself so clearly that I wanted to kill him for it?' " According to John, Jesus died because he told the truth to everyone he met. He was the truth, a perfect mirror in which people saw themselves in God's own light.
What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed.... In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.
A cross and nails are not always necessary. There are a thousand ways to kill him, some of them as obvious as choosing where you will stand when the showdown between the weak and the strong comes along, others of them as subtle as keeping your mouth shut when someone asks you if you know him.
Today, while he dies, do not turn away. Make yourself look in the mirror. Today no one gets away without being shamed by his beauty. Today, no one flees without being laid bare by his light.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor, "Truth to Tell," from The Perfect Mirror reprinted in The Christian Century, March 18-25, 1998
***
There's a story about a young French priest who came into his country church and found an old peasant man sitting in the front pew, staring at the crucifix. He didn't seem to be praying, or reciting the rosary, or doing anything except staring into space. The priest went about his business, and after a very long time he looked over at the man again. He had not moved. The priest went over, and asked the old farmhand what he was doing. The man turned to him and said simply, "I am looking at him, and he is looking at me."
That's the only thing you or I can do, really, on Good Friday: to observe with awe the spectacle of Jesus on the cross.
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Hebrews 10:16-25
John 18:1--19:42
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Hebrews 4:4-14; 5:7-9
John 18:1--19:42
Episcopal
Isaiah 52:13--53:13 or Genesis 22:1-18
Hebrews 10:1-25
John (18:1-40) 19:1-37
Theme For The Day
Do not look away from the cross: for there we see the fullest expression of God's love.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
The Fourth Servant Song
In this, the fourth of his famous servant songs, Isaiah describes an unfortunate victim whose appearance is "marred ... beyond human semblance" (52:14). Perhaps more than any of the other servant songs, Christians are inclined to identify this dying figure with that of Christ on the cross, because of what this great poem says theologically about suffering that brings redemption to others: "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed" (53:4-5).
Yet the match, while close, is not perfect. Inevitably, Isaiah's words must have had meaning for the people of his own day, quite apart from what subsequent generations would come to see in them. The following lines in particular are an imperfect match with the figure of Christ, for what they say about the suffering servant "seeing his offspring": "When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days" (53:10).
In the context of the limited Jewish conception of individual afterlife prevalent at the time of Isaiah, it is hard to see this section as applying to any individual person. It is more likely that it refers to the nation Israel, personified as a human being; or, more specifically, to the cultural elite of Judah who went through a death-like experience in their Babylonian captivity, and who only at the time of return are collectively able to "see their offspring" or "prolong their days." A problem that was undoubtedly present at the time of the return from exile was the reintegration of the returnees with those who had remained behind. Speaking to this problem, Isaiah evidently sees the suffering of the exiles as vicariously redemptive for the residents of Babylonian-occupied Judah (whose lives, while far from easy, were still not characterized by outright captivity). Inasmuch as Isaiah sees Cyrus of Persia as God's instrument in releasing the exiles (44:28; 45:1; 45:13), it is possible that the first-person plural voice ("Surely he has borne our infirmities") is that of not only those who remained in Jerusalem but also the nations of the world -- who in the prophet's imagination are coming to see Israel's suffering as redemptive for all humanity. Christian preachers need to be cautious in making too quick an identification of Isaiah's suffering servant with Jesus Christ; while we can affirm that his role was very much like this servant figure, it is important to preserve the original sense of these poems, however ambiguous the identity of their central figure may be.
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 10:16-25
Jesus, The High Priest, Reveals What Was Once Hidden
Alluding in verse 16 to Jeremiah's new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31), the author declares -- accurately, in light of the then-recent Roman destruction of the temple -- that the temple sacrifices once performed by the old high priest are no more (v. 18). Therefore, Christians are now -- metaphorically speaking -- able to enter the once-forbidden sanctuary "by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain ..." (v. 19b-20a). Christians may enter the holy of holies "in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" -- an allusion to the blood-sprinkling rites of the priestly ordination and Day of Atonement rituals described in Exodus 29:19-21 and Leviticus 16:14-19 (and now replaced by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus), and also to Christian baptism (v. 22). This passage ends with an appeal to community: "... not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another ..." (v. 25a).
Alternate New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Jesus, The Great High Priest
An alternate option for this day is two earlier passages from Hebrews, about the role of Jesus as high priest (the second of the two, from chapter 5, has already come up in the lectionary on the Fifth Sunday In Lent, see p. 95). "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin" (4:15).
The Gospel
John 18:1--19:42
John's Passion Account
This lengthy section of John's passion narrative begins with Jesus' trial before Pilate and continues through his burial. This long lesson could be read in its entirety -- in which case there may not be time for more than the most perfunctory sermon -- or a smaller portion of it could be chosen for a more intense focus. The section describing the crucifixion (19:16b-30) is especially appropriate for a more focused treatment on this day, for obvious reasons. As with the Nativity stories -- which have some similarities among them, but also some widely differing details -- it is best to avoid harmonization, concentrating instead on what a single text says. This may be a challenge in certain liturgical settings -- such as the ubiquitous "Seven Last Words" Good Friday services, in which individual verses are lifted out of context and combined with those from other biblical books -- but it is still the most textually faithful way of approaching these materials. As for John's account, there is mention of Jesus carrying his cross (but not of Simon of Cyrene assisting -- v. 17). There is crucifixion alongside two others (but no mention of them being thieves -- v. 18). John has the fullest account of Pilate's posting of the sign inscribed "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" -- fullest both in terms of the length of the inscription and the account of how it came to be written. John alone includes the detail about the chief priests objecting to the wording, and of Pilate refusing to make changes, saying, "What I have written, I have written" (v. 22). The detail of the seamless tunic (v. 23) is unique to John, although all four gospel accounts include the soldiers' casting of lots for his clothing (alluding to Psalm 22:18). Only John has the three Marys standing directly at the foot of the cross (or possibly four women, depending on whether Jesus' aunt and "Mary the wife of Clopas" are one person or two). The detail of Jesus assigning "the disciple whom Jesus loved" to care for his mother is also unique to John (vv. 26-27). In common with Matthew and Mark, John includes the detail of the sponge full of sour wine -- though only John has the soldiers place it on "a branch of hyssop" (an allusion to either Exodus 12:22 or Psalm 51:7). At the end, Jesus says, "It is finished" and gives up his spirit (v. 30). There is a sense in which he is in control of the entire process right up to the end. Of the four gospel writers, John's Jesus is the most aloof, displaying not the least sign of pain or despair (except perhaps for his expression of thirst in v. 28, which John explains as necessary "to fulfill the scriptures").
Preaching Possibilities
Good Friday is among the most challenging of days for preachers, but also among the most rewarding. Those who come for Good Friday services are, for the most part, highly committed believers, who refuse to let themselves be cowed by the secular culture's tendency to avoid all that is painful or unpleasant in life. Most will have come because they understand the importance of reflecting on the enormity of Jesus' sacrifice. It is well to remind the people -- in a restrained and not a maudlin way -- of the Savior's pain: although this is a difficult task if John's Gospel provides the text, because he tends to downplay the human elements of the crucifixion -- being more concerned (as he is throughout his gospel) with presenting abstract theological ideas.
John's passion account requires special care, also, because his collective statements about "the Jews" easily lend themselves to anti-Jewish assumptions on the part of listeners who may be inclined to think in prejudicial terms. It is, in fact, possible to substitute the words "the religious authorities" or "the religious leaders" for "the Jews" throughout John's passion narrative, and do no violence to his central meaning. It is absurd to blame the Jews, as a people, for Jesus' death, when Jesus was himself a faithful, observant Jew. John's use of this label reflects the highly charged atmosphere of persecution in which he lived, in which Christians -- including many Christians of Jewish origin -- were being abandoned by reactionary groups, and in some cases turned over by them to the Romans. John's church had begun to distance itself from Judaism as a matter of survival, and his frequent references to "the Jews" say more about his polemical attitude toward his contemporary opponents than about Jerusalem's population during the days just before the crucifixion.
Above all, it is best to avoid the saccharine proclamation, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" To touch down briefly on Golgotha and immediately leap from there to the empty tomb does no justice to the gospel writers, who relate the details of the Savior's death for a reason. Soberly "surveying the wondrous cross" on Good Friday is as much a part of the Christian devotional life as singing "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" on Easter morn. Sunday's coming, to be sure -- but today's Friday, and we need to live through it.
In the words of a contemporary folk hymn of Scotland's Iona Community, the church's task on Good Friday is to:
Wonder and stare,
Fear and beware,
Heaven and Hell are close at hand.
God's living word,
Jesus the Lord,
Follows where faith and love demand.
Prayer For The Day
We remember your passion, Lord. It seems you're always on your cross, and your children cringing in some hole while bombs burst, or cheated in some supermarket, refused in some bank, or cursed in some crowd; dying one way or another. And you refuse to quit your suffering and your crawling down into the holes where we hide, and you call us to share your suffering, but to remember the third day, and to keep moving. We give thanks for that. Amen.
-- John Vannorsdall
To Illustrate
One of the most famous crucifixion images in Christian art is a panel from what's called the Grunewald Altarpiece. It was painted in the village of Isenheim, Germany, in the early 1500s. What's so famous about this painting is the graphic detail with which the artist, Matthias Grunewald, portrays Jesus' sufferings.
This painter doesn't hold back -- not one bit. Those viewing the painting for the first time are apt to react very much like several small figures the artist paints off to one side. John, the beloved disciple, has turned his face away in revulsion. Just at that moment, he's catching the fainting Mary, mother of Jesus, as she passes out. Just in front of them, Mary Magdalene has collapsed to her knees, hands clenched high above her head in anguished prayer.
They're reacting to the visible sufferings of Jesus. There he hangs, pulled down by a misery so great that it bends the very crossbeam to which he's nailed. His mouth is gaping, his breath gasping. His fingers have become like claws surrounding the cruel spikes driven through the palms, and he's so emaciated he looks like a concentration camp inmate. Jesus' entire body is covered with hundreds of welts and wounds.
This altarpiece might well have been displayed in any great cathedral in the Middle Ages -- for graphic portrayals of the crucifixion were common in those days. But this painting was never designed to hang in a church. It was created, instead, for the chapel of a hospital. It was hung in such a way that patients could contemplate it from their beds.
Now the sight of such a gruesome painting may not sound very therapeutic, but, in fact, it is. The patients in that particular hospital, in the early 1500s, were suffering from a dreaded plague that had swept the continent of Europe. The wounds on the body of the crucified Jesus are identical to the symptoms of this plague. That meant the patients of the hospital could gaze up at the altarpiece and see there a Lord who, in the words of Isaiah, "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." They would realize, then, there was no suffering they could undergo that had not already been experienced in full by their Lord and Savior.
***
J. Barrie Shepherd, retired pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York City, tells the story of a time when he was flying back to the USA after a visit to his native Scotland. It so happened that, on that day, Shepherd was carrying back, for his church, a large Celtic cross from the Isle of Iona.
He had wrapped the cross carefully in layers of paper and padding. Not trusting the baggage handlers, he thought it best to carry it onto the plane himself. As he approached the airport X-ray machine, the guards eyed him up and down: his bundle looked suspiciously like an automatic weapon. When the image of a two-foot-tall Celtic cross appeared on the X-ray screen, the guards relaxed.
Early the next morning, Shepherd and his fellow passengers made their way into the customs area of New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "Do you have anything to declare?" asked the customs agent.
"Only this cross," Shepherd replied, still sleepy from his long flight. The agent looked down and scribbled something on a form in front of him. It was only later that Shepherd got to see what he had written: "Item of a sentimental nature, of little or no value."
The customs agent's words were significant. The words he wrote down were perhaps correct from the standpoint of bureaucratic regulations, but in a theological sense they were all wrong. Yet isn't that description -- "Item of a sentimental nature, of little or no value" -- exactly what the world thinks of the cross of Jesus?
Unfortunately, it is. On Good Friday, the customs officer's question is put, disturbingly and directly, to every Christian: "Do you have anything to declare?"
What will we say, in reply?
***
I remember being at a retreat once where the leader asked us to think of someone who represented Christ in our lives. When it came time to share our answers, one woman stood up and said, "I had to think hard about that one. I kept thinking, 'Who is it who told me the truth about myself so clearly that I wanted to kill him for it?' " According to John, Jesus died because he told the truth to everyone he met. He was the truth, a perfect mirror in which people saw themselves in God's own light.
What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed.... In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.
A cross and nails are not always necessary. There are a thousand ways to kill him, some of them as obvious as choosing where you will stand when the showdown between the weak and the strong comes along, others of them as subtle as keeping your mouth shut when someone asks you if you know him.
Today, while he dies, do not turn away. Make yourself look in the mirror. Today no one gets away without being shamed by his beauty. Today, no one flees without being laid bare by his light.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor, "Truth to Tell," from The Perfect Mirror reprinted in The Christian Century, March 18-25, 1998
***
There's a story about a young French priest who came into his country church and found an old peasant man sitting in the front pew, staring at the crucifix. He didn't seem to be praying, or reciting the rosary, or doing anything except staring into space. The priest went about his business, and after a very long time he looked over at the man again. He had not moved. The priest went over, and asked the old farmhand what he was doing. The man turned to him and said simply, "I am looking at him, and he is looking at me."
That's the only thing you or I can do, really, on Good Friday: to observe with awe the spectacle of Jesus on the cross.
