Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13—53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1—19:42

John 18:1—19:42

¹ [Jesus] went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.² Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³ So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ⁴ Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” ⁵ They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ⁶ When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these people go.” ⁹ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

  ¹² So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³ First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. ¹⁴ Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.

  ¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, ¹⁶ but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. ¹⁷ The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” ¹⁸ Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.

  ¹⁹ Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.” ²² When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” ²³ Jesus answered, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

  ²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” ²⁷ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

  ²⁸ Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” ³⁰ They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” ³¹ Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” ³² (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
  ³³ Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” ³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” ³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”

  After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. ³⁹ But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ⁴⁰ They shouted in reply, “Not this man but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a rebel.
 ^19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ² And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. ³ They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. ⁴ Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” ⁵ So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” ⁶ When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”
  ⁸ Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. ⁹ He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” ¹² From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against Caesar.”
  ¹³ When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ¹⁶ Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

  So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. ¹⁹ Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this inscription because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” ²² Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” ²³ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
 “They divided my clothes among themselves,
  and for my clothing they cast lots.”
²⁵ And that is what the soldiers did.
  Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
  ²⁸ After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. ³⁰ When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

  ³¹ Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath, especially because that Sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. ³² Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. ³⁵ (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth, so that you also may continue to believe.) ³⁶ These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” ³⁷ And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

  ³⁸ After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed his body. ³⁹ Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. ⁴⁰ They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

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We Are Not

Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The parade of human ineptitude begins with Judas. Some wonder if he was well-intentioned and misguided by the “true” architects of this scandal. Judas would hope that Jesus could convince the religious authorities of who he was. That would make Judas unwise at best. I am not so sure. I believe that passion narratives in the gospels were meant to expose humanity’s shortcomings. 

Judas was a betrayer who saw a way out of the struggle that was to come. The pressure was on at this point, and the plot to kill Jesus had been around and somewhat known. We can mark Judas as someone who just figured he could benefit from the back of the rabbi from Nazareth.

Next comes the first wave of the agents of oppression. The temple security forces serving at the discretion of the Jerusalem powers and principalities, who are too sure of their wisdom or too worried about the ripple effects of having this magician Jesus tricking others into thinking he can bring people back from the dead. 

Speaking of powers and principalities. They knew very well what they were doing was disgraceful. They arrested Jesus in the middle of the night and kept his imprisonment and interrogation out of the eyes of the people. They are creatures of the night, the manipulators of back-room arrangements, dealing in shadows. It is easy for them to play bully while surrounded by their security forces. They know they can’t kill Jesus. They would need the Roman authority to agree on it. Ultimately, they are reduced to vassals.

Before we go to the Romans, Peter is in the middle of it. He is the chief disciple, the rock on which the church was about to be built. He becomes the denier. I am not, he says. I am not his disciple. He does not even hesitate. It was better to stay hidden by the warmth of the fire on a cold and dark night.

Which brings us to Pontius Pilate, the incompetent mass murderer who shed the blood of thousands and yet was unable to control the crowds in the outpost he so detested. He is only in Jerusalem because he cannot afford a rebellion. His superiors are eager to gut him. He is in the hot seat. He has to hear what the local authorities have to say. It was Roman policy. He has a hot potato in his hands. He is buying time to decide whether to avoid unrest or continue to appease the local authorities, as he needs them to keep the temple tax flowing to Rome. He dares to think he has any power over what is taking place.

In the end, he did not wash his hands.  Evil gave him a gift. Crucify him! Release, Barrabas! If you release him, you are no friend of the Emperor! Oops, that did it. Those guys may have had some back channel that he was unaware of. They were the masters of the shadows and whispers anyway. So he has Jesus flogged and hands him over to be crucified. Remember, we confess that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. 

Then comes the second wave of the agents of violence and oppression. The Roman soldiers. They couldn’t care less about what is going on. They are numb. They, too, used to be instruments of torture and death. They beat the bajibies out of Jesus. Torture him. Mock him. They manufacture the quintessential image of what our Lord was going through: the crown of thorns. 

I never tire of saying this: the worst of humanity is on display. Yet, through it all, Jesus is everything that we are not. He succeeds in everything we fail. He earns for us on the cross what we cannot. This memory is worthy of being carried for our lives, not that God abandoned God’s son at the cross. No, perhaps there is something more profound and transformational to remember here. 

That God manifested through it all. I AM he, said the Christ. From that point on, the failures of mere mortals begin to surrender, little by little, to the majesty of God’s love for us. God gave up his power. God took the beating. God was tortured. God was nailed to the cross. God was hanging from a tree. God fulfilled God’s promise. God stayed faithful. There is no need to hold our trespasses against us. God satisfied Godself and took our transgressions to the tomb with him. Hopefully, what will come out of it is something entirely new. Amen.