April 10th Good Friday Sermon by The Reverend Loree Reed |
| John 19: 1–37 |
| Isaiah 52:13–53:11 |
| I have to admit, I have been dreading this day all week. We call it Holy Week, but for me, every year, as Good Friday approaches, all I want to do is avert my eyes. I do not want to see the face Isaiah delicately describes as “marred beyond human semblance” by the insulting mock trial, the brutal flogging, the sadistic slapping and beating – and finally, the crown of thorns thrust down hard on Jesus’ head. And I do not want to realize that that treatment, that worst of all human behavior, was only the beginning. For then they paraded Him through the streets, beaten and bleeding, forcing Him to carry His own cross. And, finally, they nailed Him to that tree. |
| O, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. |
| Maybe that is why they call it Christ’s Passion. For it is only when I realize that Jesus went through it all out of love for us all that I can begin to approach the unfathomable mystery of God’s love. That is what finally draws me closer – the realization that Jesus loved me so much – despite my sin – He was willing to go through this. All to save my soul and yours. All to get me to realize if he gave this much for me, then there just might be something I can give back to Him in response. |
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Some of the old hymns say it best. Charles Wesley wrote: Died he for me who caused his pain For me who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be That thou, my God, should’st die for me! |
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And Isaac Watts wrote: See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown? Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. |
| This isn’t a human, limited, tentative kind of love that says, “I’ll love you as long as you supply my needs or as long as it is convenient for both of us.” This is a Godly kind of love that loves us deeply, profoundly, without conditions – whether we deserve it or not. God loves us to death. And it’s almost more than I can comprehend. |
| So it’s right here, to the cross, I come today, head bowed. No longer full of myself and my needs, no longer full of excuses. No longer, like Peter, just trying to get out of this thing alive – or, like Pilate, simply washing my hands of it. Only aware for a fleeting moment of how much more there is of God’s love for me, if only I dare to accept it. If only I will let go of “the vain things that charm me most,” as Isaac Watts describes them ’’ the things that distract me and keep me from God’s amazing love. |
| But there’s more to this day than my realization of how far short I have fallen, of how far I still have to go. For even on this day, even as He hangs here on the cross, He meets me. And once again forgives me, loves me, encourages me. He renews every promise He’s ever made to me. |
| And it’s almost more than I can bear. |
| Amen |
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