Friday, March 25
Good Friday
Scripture: Matthew 27:32-56

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.  And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

THE DEATH OF JESUS

On Good Friday, we face again the images of the suffering Christ, like those you see here.

The white, emaciated body, hanging or held limply, limb and joint twisted grotesquely, torso pallid and smooth as death or criss-crossed with bloodlines. Veiled eyes look down into darkness. And always, the cruel artistry of the thorns, their woodiness complicit with the dark cross, maximizing pain. We see this and feel, but cannot feel enough. We have no idea.

But Matthew depicts another pain--that of mockery. Given the great love with which Christ came down, this must have hurt deeply.  The biting irony inscribed in “King of the Jews”; the sarcastic “save yourself . . . Son of God” from the passersby; the chief priests and elders, gloating, “He trusts in God. Let Him deliver him.”  And the whole tableau of shame framing Jesus in guilt between two robbers who “reviled him in the same way.”  He felt “forsaken.”

This is the kind of pain that goes all the way down. It is the suffering of nothingness in the eyes of others. The history of art rightly dignifies this moment in history, but there was no dignity at the moment. Just the pitiful end of a religious sideshow played out on a hill in a ditch or quarry where crucified bodies were dumped. That’s what it would have felt like, a desolate place where mockery had dumped hope.

This is a pain we would not wish on anyone (we say). So, let us shame no one. Mock no one.

But, of course, this God-man’s shameful death flipped it all.  Even on that day, people stepped out of their tombs (why do we miss that part?) and appeared in the city. They appeared out from nowhere and nothingness.  This is what happens in the Kingdom of God.  People on the verge of invisibility, of nothingness, become visible, even glorious.

Who do you know who has been shamed, perhaps even mocked? Who feels the pain of rejection? Who has been made to feel invisible? Make them visible. Call them forth. Or just call them. “Practice resurrection” in advance.

PRAYER

Blessed Lord,
By Your wounded hands: teach us diligence and generosity.
By Your wounded feet: teach us steadfastness and perseverance.
By Your wounded and insulted head: teach us patience, clarity and wisdom.
By Your wounded heart: teach us love, teach us love, teach us love,O Master and Savior.
Amen.

- Daphne Fraser

Todd Pickett, Dean, Spiritual Development