SermonStudio

Note to the preacher:
As I write this message, my vision is that it is something more than just another sermon. It is written in four sections, each one presenting a step in the story of the events of that Friday. My personal presentation of this message would be in one of two ways, depending on the experience I am wanting to create. Option 1 would be to use this as the format for the entire Good Friday service, with each section of the story separated with music, liturgy, or any other activity desired. Option 2, which is my preference, is that the entire service is simply the message. The service begins in a lighted sanctuary with candles as desired. After each section of the story, a brief period of quiet and personal prayer is taken, while one section of lights and candles is quietly extinguished. As the final section of the story is completed, the last of the lights are extinguished, leaving the entire sanctuary in darkness, with the exception of one remaining “Candle of Hope” on the altar table. Everyone leaves the sanctuary in silence. There is no music, no scripted liturgy or common prayers, just the story. The experience is a simple recreation of the increasing darkness that was the day.

ONE
The main streets were crowded with people taking a long walk after the big seder celebration. Since this was the time when family members came back home from the far corners of the world, it would have been quite a sight, filled with colorful clothing and with a constant hum from the many conversations. But the disciples were not a part of that crowd. Judas had left during the meal, and no one was quite sure just what was going to happen next, so the group took the dark side streets and avoided the crowds as they made their way out of Jerusalem that night. It’s likely that even though it was the biggest night of celebration of the year, the group was quiet as they walked.

Just as they had found the room where they had celebrated the seder meal, someone had made arrangements to get them the key to the gate of the small olive orchard near the bottom of the Kidron Valley, and as they went inside they each searched around for a comfortable place out of the breeze where they could get a good night’s sleep. Jesus asked a couple of them to stay with him for a while, and they walked further into the orchard as Jesus tried to help them understand what was going to happen. It may have been the late hour, or maybe it was all the wine from the seder meal, but they had a hard time understanding what he was saying to them. After a few more minutes, Jesus asked them to sit down and pray while he spent a few minutes by himself. Once by himself, Jesus prayed about what was going to happen. He asked if there was any way it could all just be avoided and they could all go home again, but he ended by simply saying that he would do whatever he was asked to do. When he returned to the others, they were asleep.

As he was waking them up, before we really find out whether he was upset with them or understood their weariness, it was then that the locked gate to the orchard was opened and Judas walked through it. Behind him was a collection of others. Each gospel writer describes the group a bit differently, saying it was soldiers and police officers, or servants from the high priests and scribes, or a bunch of paid hoodlums sent to do the dirty work. Regardless, Judas pointed to Jesus, words were exchanged, Matthew says there was a brief scuffle that Jesus quickly ended, all leading to Jesus being taken from the olive orchard at Gethsemane, while the disciples stood still, wiping the sleep from their eyes.

TWO
John tells us that they walked back through the streets of town, actually traveling a good way across the city, ending up at the home of the Annas, the father-in-law of the current high priest of the temple. Why take him to Annas? Annas was in line to become the next high priest and had a vested interest in seeing that this situation be resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Was it the normal, legal step to take? Probably not, but this was one of those situations in which following the normal and legal process was seen as less important than getting it resolved.

According to tradition, Annas was either busy at a party of his own or was actually already in bed and had to be awakened. Either way, the tradition says that Jesus was temporarily put into a cell with other prisoners while they waited for Annas to get ready for him. Today, if you visit the site of Annas’ house, you can still walk down the stone steps into the hole in the ground that served as the cell. The hole is about twenty feet square and approximately thirty feet deep. At the time it was used as a cell there were no stairs to walk down. When a prisoner was put into the cell, a trapdoor was opened at the top and he was simply dropped into the hole. When it was time for him to be tried, a rope was lowered into the hole for the prisoner to tie around his waist, and he was quickly pulled up. This was not a nice place. It had a mud floor and no conveniences. When a prisoner was yanked back up out of the pit, he was usually dowsed with just enough water to make him presentable, and then dealt with. After some unknown length of time, they hoisted Jesus up, took the rope off, and splashed him with a bucket of water before taking him to the now-prepared, high priest-to-be, Annas.

While this was happening, if we pull our view back a bit from the room, in that dark little space near the gate to Annas’ house, we can see someone standing. It is Peter. The same Peter who had followed Jesus that first day along the shore of the Sea of Galilee had followed him this one more time. Just as we see him, someone else also noticed him, and recognized him as one of Jesus’ followers. Peter quickly denied it, knowing that with things as they were he would be the next one thrown into that big hole in the floor. As they waited, it grew colder outside and Peter moved a little closer to the small fire that was burning near the gate. Again someone recognized him and again he pretended ignorance. The third time someone approached him, either from panic or just from exhaustion, Peter turned away.

Inside the house, Annas was faced with a serious problem. As great a threat as Jesus was, Annas had no authority to condemn him to death. Only the Roman authorities had that power, and Annas knew that Rome really wasn’t interested in the theological concerns of the temple. All the Roman leaders wanted was to avoid any real political problems or any real threats that might get the attention of their leaders back in Rome. As long as they kept the political front quiet, they kept their jobs. After a brief conversation with Jesus, which most of the writers tell us was more a monologue than an actual conversation, Annas told the group to take Jesus to Caiaphas, the current high priest and let him figure it out.

John doesn’t tell us much about the time with Caiaphas, but he was apparently smart enough to realize the real problem, so he quickly had Jesus dragged through the streets once again, this time to see Pilate, the local Roman official.

Pilate had little interest in, or patience for, all of this “Jewish religious stuff,” and it was, after all, now the wee hours of the morning and since they had no real legal charges against this Jesus, he simply said, “Deal with him yourself!” The crowd grew restless and that got Pilate’s attention. It looked like one of those situations that might erupt into a riot. It was a situation that might end up being heard about in Rome and costing him his job, so he realized he needed to resolve it then and there.

Whatever else Pilate was, he was no dummy. He had heard the crowd saying something about Jesus being the King of the Jews, and if someone was actually claiming to be a king, that could be considered the kind of political threat that would give him the ability to respond legally. As John tells the story, Pilate was walking over to where Jesus was being held, probably squinting his eyes as he saw the condition that Jesus was in after all that had already happened. Pilate spoke fairly calmly, almost friend-to-friend, saying, “So tell me, these folks say you are a king. Are you really the King of the Jews?” Can you see the little glint of light in Pilate’s eyes as he waited for the answer? As soon as Jesus would admit it, Pilate could get this whole thing resolved, make the crowd happy, and get back to bed where he would rather be right now.

But try as he might, no matter how carefully Pilate phrased the question, Jesus just didn’t play the game. He didn’t admit it but neither did he deny it. Consequently, without a clear confession, Pilate had nothing on which to base a judgment. He was caught between trying to do the correct, legal thing and trying to satisfy the mob. You almost feel sorry for Pilate at this point — almost.

Pilate had one more idea that he thought might make this mess go away, so he reminded the crowd of the custom of freeing a prisoner on Passover. Why didn’t they just free Jesus and be done with it all? But that backfired too, most likely because everyone there knew the tradition better than Pilate and had already made the plan to ask for Barabbas instead.

Finally, hoping that it might satisfy the crowd enough, Pilate ordered the soldiers to take Jesus to their fortress near the temple and flog him.

THREE
Things were quickly spiraling out of control. Regardless of any concern about legality that Pilate may have had, the average Roman soldier enjoyed any opportunity to punish a Jew. Jesus was taken to the open stone floor of the Antonia fortress for some savage entertainment in what was called “the King’s Game.” He was tied to a post, with his arms stretched around the pole in front of him. Soldiers rolled dice made of the bones of former prisoners and moved the game piece around the circle carved in the stone floor. The circle had pie-shape areas carved into it, each one with a drawing. Whichever drawing the soldier’s token landed on determined what the soldier would do to the prisoner. If they landed on the image of the scourge, the soldier grabbed the little wooden stick with the long leather straps, each strap with a small piece of bone or metal tied to it, and they would whip the prisoner with it. If their token landed on the drawing of the robe, that soldier placed the old worn blanket on the prisoner’s now bloody shoulders. And just for fun, they would then quickly pull it off again, reopening the fresh wounds from the scourging. If their token landed on the drawing of the crown, they took the pieces of hedge thorn that had been bent into a circle, and crammed it onto the prisoner’s head. And if their token landed on the cross? Well, the rules were clear that you could not actually use the cross until all of the other things were done first. It was no fun if the game ended too soon.

Part way through the game, Pilate came to the fortress to see if the crowd was satisfied with the beating, and whether they would now go home and end the hassle. They were not ready for that. After more time and conversation, Pilate used the one remaining legal option he had available and told the servants to bring him a bowl of water and a towel. It was a simple ritual, and it may not have been legal. But as he washed his hands in the water, the message was that he was officially washing his hands of the entire matter and whatever the crowd wanted to do from here on was up to them. It was time for the one, last game piece to be played.

FOUR
Jesus was untied from the pole, and a large heavy piece of wood was loaded across his shoulders with his arms tied to it so it would not fall off. This would be fastened to another tall pole nearby and the two of them together would form the final cross from the King’s Game. One more time Jesus was led through the streets of town, just now coming to life as morning stirred. These were the people who five days ago had stood along the roads waving palm branches.

The walk ended at the top of a small outcropping of rock, in the middle of a cemetery for wealthy Jews just outside the city walls. Since crucifixions were seen as an unclean act, it gave the Romans a special pleasure in performing them here, making this important Jewish site unclean in the process. It was one of those added bonuses for them.

According to rules and tradition, Jesus was then stripped of all clothing and made to lie down next to the pole that had been pulled out of its hole. His wooden cross piece was tied to the pole and then the two pieces of wood were slowly raised into the air, lifting Jesus up. For added strength, spikes had been driven through Jesus wrists and into the cross piece. Experience had taught the Romans that it was important to use the wrists, because the hands were too fragile and the victim might fall from the cross too early. The cross was slowly raised into its hole until gravity finally took over, and...

THUD!
The cross settled into place with a shock that tore at Jesus’ wrists. Once the cross was vertical, the soldiers nailed another board below his waist and twisted his legs sideways to push his feet up under his buttocks, so they could nail them to that new board. This took some of the pressure off of Jesus’ wrists, making it possible for him to remain on the cross for days, rather than hours. The twisted position he was now in also meant that while he could inhale and take in a good breath, he now had to pull with his wrists to straighten himself enough to exhale. Most victims of crucifixion actually died very slowly of asphyxiation, finally becoming too exhausted to exhale. However wonderfully it is represented by the great artistic masters throughout history, crucifixion has nothing beautiful about it whatsoever.

The soldiers ended their King’s Game the same way as always, gathering around under the cross to throw the dice again, to determine which of them got to keep anything of value the victim would no longer need.

At some point, Jesus asked for a drink, and a soldier stepped forward with a sponge on a stick, soaked with wine. Since the alcohol actually served as a mild pain-killer, this almost seems to be a rare act of kindness in the middle of all of the horror. However, by easing the pain, the victim might actually remain hanging up there even longer for everyone to see and be terrorized, so it was just another well-learned, planned step in the process.

There was a little group standing a short distance from the soldiers and their cross and game. There was Mary Magdalene, quiet with her memories. There was Mary, the wife of Clopas, someone we don’t know much about. She is here because of the third woman, who was her sister. The third woman stood there, arms at her side, her eyes unmoving from the man on that cross. Her thoughts raced back to the well in Nazareth and the angel. She remembered Bethlehem and Egypt, and so many other things. Her son — whatever else that man on the cross may be, or may become — in her eyes at this moment in time, he is her son. No more, no less.

Jesus’ eyes connected with hers for one very brief moment, as he said, “It is finished.”