St Theodore's

Wattle Park

     
 
  Sermon of the Week  
    14/4/06 - Good Friday  
  The 7 Sayings of Jesus on the Cross  
     
  This was designed as a service of meditation for good Friday. It consists of a simple reading of the various texts, followed by meditations, music, poetry and was interspersed with times of quiet, hymns, and prayers.
   
  Father, Forgive
  Luke 23:32-34 (NRSV) "Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals -- one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots."
   
  What sorts of prayers pass your lips when you find yourself in trouble? If you're like me they're probably prayers for help; prayers directed to your own needs. I wonder how you respond when people hurt you? Do you wish that you could get even? If you pray, do you pray that God would judge or avenge those who've done whatever it was to you? It's understandable if you do, I guess. And it would have been equally understandable if Jesus had called out to his father in heaven to remember those who were doing such cruel things to him; those whose words must have stung as they jeered and mocked; Pilate who had knowingly passed an unjust sentence on him; the soldiers as they gambled for the clothes they'd just torn off him, leaving him naked and exposed. But no. We're told that he prayed for those who were hurting him: "Father forgive them!" In fact the sense of the Greek is that he went on praying for them. Even as they did their worst he was praying that God would forgive them.
  Jesus understood far better than we ever will, that his death was to bring forgiveness to those who are his enemies. The forgiveness that comes from Jesus' death on the cross is for those who are most in need of it. Sometimes people wonder whether they're good enough for God. But you see, that's the wrong question to ask. The right question is: do you realise you're bad enough to need God's forgiveness? You see only when we acknowledge our need for forgiveness are we in the right state of mind to ask for it and to receive it. Those whom Jesus prayed for didn't know what they were doing, so they couldn't ask for forgiveness. Yet in his love he prayed for them anyway.
  And do you know, Jesus continues to pray for us even now. Rom 8:34 says: "Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us." His work on the cross is finished, but his work of intercession on our behalf continues.
  As we think about that, we're going to pause for a moment to think about those things we've done or not done for which we need to ask forgiveness. Then we'll pray a prayer of confession and then sing what's really a prayer that reminds us that we can be forgiven because Jesus took our condemnation upon himself despite being our King.
   
  Confession
  Hymn: You are my King
   
  A Promise of Paradise
  Luke 23:39-43 (NRSV) "One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." 42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.""
  There's quite a contrast here between the worldly wise criminal and the criminal with the softened heart. The first can't see beyond his own pain and loss. All he can do is mock Jesus for his apparent claim to be more than the mortal being this crucifixion will show him to be. Or so he thinks. The other, though, sees beyond the obvious, beyond the present. He sees with the eyes of faith that there's far more to this man than meets the eye. He may not be able to explain it, but he's seen something in Jesus that requires more than an earthly explanation. He's seen something that the Roman soldiers will see after the event. With the eyes of faith he looks to Jesus and calls out "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." He understands that when faced with Jesus you must make a choice: to believe or to reject, faith which leads to life, or rejection which leads to death; and he chooses faith.
  This is a choice that another man made 2000 years later; a man named Studdert Kennedy, who was a chaplain during World War 1. He was faced with all the horrors of the war to end all wars, yet he maintained that faith in God was the only choice he could make. Let's listen to one of his poems that expresses this so well.
   
  Faith. From The Unutterable Beauty G.A. Studdert Kennedy, Mowbray & Co, Oxford, 1986
  How do I know that God is good? I don't.
I gamble like a man. I bet my life
Upon one side in life's great war. I must,
I can't stand out. I must take sides. The man
Who is a neutral in this fight is not
A man. He's bulk and body without breath,
Cold leg of lamb without mint sauce. A fool.
He makes me sick. Good Lord! Weak tea!
      Cold slops!
I want to live, live out, not wobble through
My life somehow, and then into the dark.
I must have God. This life's too dull without,
Too dull for aught but suicide. What's man
To live for else? I'd murder some one just
To see red blood. I'd drink myself blind drunk,
And see blue snakes if I could not look up
To see blue skies, and hear God speaking through
The silence of the stars. How is it proved ?
It isn't proved, you fool, it can't be proved.
How can you prove a victory before
It's won? How can you prove a man who leads,
To be a leader worth the following,
Unless you follow to the death-and out
beyond mere death, which is not anything
But Satan's lie upon eternal life?
Well - God's my leader, and I hold that He
Is good, and strong enough to work His plan
And purpose out to its appointed end.
I am no fool, I have my reasons for
This faith, but they are not the reasonings,
The coldly calculated formulae
Of thought divorced from feeling. They are true,
Too true for that. There's no such thing as thought
Which does not feel if it be real thought
And not thought's ghost - all pale and sicklied o'er
With dead conventions - abstract truth - man's lie
Upon this living, loving, suff'ring Truth,
That pleads and pulses in my very veins,
The blue blood of all beauty, and the breath
Of life itself. I see what God has done,
What life in this world is. I see what you
See, this eternal struggle in the dark.
I see the foul disorders, and the filth
Of mind and soul, in which men, wallowing
Like swine, stamp on their brothers till they drown
In puddles of stale blood, and vomitings
Of their corruption. This life stinks in places,
'Tis true, yet scent of roses and of hay
New mown comes stealing on the evening breeze,
And through the market's din, the bargaining
Of cheats, who make God's world a den of thieves,
I hear sweet bells ring out to prayer, and see
The faithful kneeling by the Calvary
Of Christ.
                 I walk in crowded streets where men
And women, mad with lust loose-lipped and lewd
Go promenading down to hell's wide gates;
Yet have I looked into my mother's eyes,
And seen the light that never was on sea
Or land, the light of Love, pure Love and true,
And on that Love I bet my life. I back
My mother 'gainst a whore when I believe
In God, and can a man do less or more?
I have to choose. I back the scent of life
Against its stink. That's what Faith works out at
Finally. I know not why the Evil,
I know not why the Good, both mysteries
Remain unsolved, and both insoluble.
I know that both are there, the battle set,
And I must fight on this side or on that.
I can't stand shiv'ring on the bank, I plunge
Head first. I bet my life on Beauty, Truth,
And Love, not abstract but incarnate Truth,
Not Beauty's passing shadow but its Self.
Its very self made flesh, Love realised.
I bet my life on Christ - Christ Crucified.
Behold your God! My soul cries out. He hangs,
Serenely patient in His agony,
And turns the soul of darkness into light.
I look upon that body, writhing, pierced
And torn with nails, and see the battlefields
Of time, the mangled dead, the gaping wounds,
The sweating, dazed survivors straggling back,
The widows worn and haggard, still dry-eyed,
Because their weight of sorrow will not lift
And let them weep; I see the ravished maid,
The honest mother in her shame; I see
All history pass by, and through it all
Still shines that face, the Christ Face, like a star
Which pierces drifting clouds, and tells the Truth.
They pass, but it remains and shines untouched,
A pledge of that great hour which surely comes
When storm winds sob to silence, fury spent
To silver silence, and the moon sails calm
And stately through the soundless seas of Peace.
So through the clouds of Calvary - there shines
His face, and I believe that Evil dies,
And Good lives on, loves on, and conquers all -
All War must end in Peace. These clouds are lies.
They cannot last. The blue sky is the Truth.
For God is love. Such is my Faith, and such
My reasons for it, and I find them strong
Enough. And you? You want to argue? Well,
I can't. It is a choice. I choose the Christ.
   
  Hymn: There is a Green Hill
   
  Behold Your Son
  John 19:25-27 (NRSV) " Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." 27Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home."
  There's some significance I guess, in the fact that of the followers of Jesus who stood around the cross, there were four women and only one man. According to a recent Church Life Survey, the average Anglican in Melbourne is a tertiary educated woman in her mid to late 50s. I'm not sure if it's always been so but it may well be that women have always shown more devotion to Jesus than men. Certainly here, when the going got tough, when it was dangerous to be associated with Jesus, it was the women who stayed. And as he had during his life, so now in his death, Jesus sought to show them a special love and care, particularly Mary his mother. He didn't try to explain what was happening. He didn't try to take away her pain or sadness. No, he had one very practical thing to say to her. "Woman, here is your son." And then turning to the disciple whom we identify as John himself, he said: "Here is your mother." Even as he hung there, dying, Jesus' concern was that his mother should be cared for by one of his inner circle of disciples, by his dear friend, John.
  Yet there's more here than just his concern for his mother. Mary had other sons who would have looked after her. No, there's also the sense in which Jesus is separating himself from Mary. From this point on he's no longer Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph. Soon he'll be the risen Son of God and Mary's relationship with him will be completely different, just as Mary Magdalene will discover in the garden on Easter morning. So he establishes a new mother-son relationship for Mary to take the place of that between Mary and Jesus. From now on John will take over the role of Mary's earthly son and Mary will be one of the many followers of Christ. In fact as we read Acts 1 we find that Mary along with her other sons, Jesus' brothers, is joining with Jesus' disciples, meeting together in the upper room, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit.
   
  Forsaken
  Matt 27:45-46 (NRSV) "From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 46And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?""
  "Surely he hath borne our griefs." Handel's Messiah
   
  Prayers:
   
  I Thirst
  John 19:28 (NRSV) "After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty.""
  I remember being asked by one of the kids in my RE class around this time of year once whether Jesus was completely human. We were talking about him dying on the cross. Of course the answer is that, yes, he was fully human, at the same time as being fully divine. There's a mystery there that I don't think we'll ever fully fathom, but if we want some evidence of Jesus' humanness at this moment, what more do we need than these words: "I am thirsty." Death on a cross was perhaps the most cruel and painful method of death ever invented. It was torture and execution rolled into one. It involved a long gradual wearing down of the strength of the sufferer. Breathing became more and more difficult as the legs and arms lost their strength, The person would become more and more dehydrated as the circulatory system laboured to keep the blood circulating, until the combination of the two resulted in their death, often after a period of days. So this cry of thirst from Jesus was a natural cry of someone suffering on a cross. He suffered like any other person would. Yet at the same time there's something else in this cry. In Matthew's account the 3 hour period of darkness has taken place just before. Here we're told that all was now finished. It's almost as if this is the cry of one who sees the end in view. It's impossible to use any human analogy for what Jesus went through, but perhaps we can get a feel for it by imagining a marathon runner who's run to their limit and they turn the final bend, enter the stadium for the final lap, and a great sigh escapes their lips. They cross the finishing line and suddenly their legs give way and they crumple to the ground. Or you might imagine a man who's been involved in a car accident. He's seriously injured, but as he looks around he sees his wife and child lying unconscious. So he walks down the road to call for help. The ambulance arrives and takes them to the hospital. His wife and son are treated and only then does he collapse from his own injuries.
  Here it's a bit like that. It's as though Jesus has stood firm under all the suffering of separation from God, separation due to the sin of the world. As we just sang:
 

    There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin
    he only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in.
  and now that it's over he can stop and notice his own suffering.
   
  Hymn: At the Cross
   
  Finished
  John 19:29-30 (NRSV) "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. 30When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
  Jesus was still suffering, but he was in command of himself enough to cry out, according to the other three gospel writers, 'with a loud voice'. Unlike the previous words, 'I thirst' this is a cry of triumph. The work he had come to do is finished. But let's think for a moment about what exactly is finished. Well, to start with, Jesus work on earth is finished. Everything he came to do has been done. But not only that: from this moment the whole Old Testament way of worshipping God is finished. Jesus has brought the Old Testament sacrificial rites to completion. There's nothing more for us to do in order to gain acceptance from God. What's more, God's eternal plan of salvation is finished in the sense that everything has been done that needs to be done. Mind you we still await it's final consummation don't we? But the means for that plan to be brought to fruition is now finished. Sin is paid for, new life now awaits those who believe in the crucified and soon to be risen Son. All that's left now is to wait for the Son of God to return in glory to take us to be with the Father.
   
  It Is Finished. G. A. Studdert Kennedy, ibid
  It is finished! It is finished! as the sun sinks down to rest,
And the sky burns blood and amber in the wonder-weaving West,
Where the clouds make golden islands like the Islands of the Blest,
For the day is nearly done.
   
  But another day is dawning as the winged darkness flies,
And the silver stars keep sentry till another sun shall rise,
For the daylight is eternal, and the sunshine never dies,
It is always marching on.
   
  It is finished! It is finished! for the Saviour crucified,
See the soldiers stand in silence where the cruel crowds have cried,
E'en the broken-hearted mother has departed from His side,
For His day is nearly done.
   
  But an empty tomb is waiting, and the East is silver grey,
As the angels of the morning trumpet in another day,
See the wounded God go walking down the world's eternal way,
For His task is never done.
   
  There's an army thronging round Him as He takes the road to-night,
Can't you see your sons and brothers lined before Him left and right ?
Can't you hear their voices calling you to join the host and fight
For the God who marches on ?
   
  Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
   
  Into Your Hands
  Luke 23:44-49 (NRSV) "It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." 48And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
  It's been suggested that there's something of a parallel between the 7 sayings from the cross and the 7 days of creation, at least in this respect: that in creation the 6th day was the day on which God finished his work, and similarly the 6th saying is the cry of triumph, "It is finished!" Similarly the 7th day in creation was the day of rest, and here we find the 7th saying is a word of rest. Jesus, having finished his work, hands his life over to God the Father. Jesus is the only beloved Son of God, who, having submitted all to his Father's will, now gives himself over to the Father's care. He commits his Spirit to the Father and immediately dies, and it happens so suddenly and peacefully that the Centurion looking on is amazed. I guess this Centurion must have seen hundreds, even thousands of such executions but this one is different. So much so that he concludes that Jesus must have been innocent. Matthew actually reports him and his fellow soldiers as saying that he must have been the Son of God.
  Finally, here is Jesus on the cross, still suffering untold pain, yet he's still in communication with God. His communion with God isn't lessened by his pain and suffering. If anything he's thrown even more onto dependence on God. This is a lesson I think we can all afford to learn. Sometimes we can think God is far from us when we're in pain, when we're lonely or unhappy for whatever reason. But even then those who are followers of Jesus can call to God as Father, just as Jesus did, because, as John 1:12 tells us, "to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." As God's sons and daughters, we too can commit our spirits, in fact our entire lives, to God's care, knowing that he can be trusted to look after us the same way he looked after Jesus.
                   
 
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