2004-04-09 Good Friday Fourth Word - Page 1 of 3
“It was nine o’clock in the morning,” writes Mark, “when they crucified him.” But that’s it -
there are no more details. It was a brutal and barbaric and public execution - there is no question it was
a scene from hell. But none of the gospel writers tell us the details of the agony of death by crucifixion -
their readers would have known them only too well. And neither will I because there is so much more to
the suffering our Lord knew.
And when did all that suffering begin? On my list of used-to-thinks, I might have said it began
the night before, in the upper room with the Passover meal that became the Last Supper - and then
moved to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane with its sorrow and betrayal and arrest
and desertion. And on to the trial before the Sanhedrin, the charges of blasphemy and condemnation to
death and the spitting and beating and denial by a disciple who had promised he would never to fall
away.
And I would have said it continued with the trial before the Roman governor, Pilate - the shouts
of the crowd to “Crucify him!” - and more flogging and more mockery of the “King of the Jews” and
finally the walk to Golgatha.
Then I might have said it really got serious at nine o’clock in the morning, when they nailed Jesus
to the cross.
But now, as I read Mark’s gospel, I think differently. I think the suffering started way before
Holy Week. I think it began soon after what happened at the Jordan River the day that Jesus, just down
from Nazareth in Galilee, was baptized by John - and saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking
like a dove, come down on him - and, along with the Spirit, the voice, the words, “You are my Son,
chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”
God was with Jesus - and he knew it. And so we watch what happens as the first thing God’s
Spirit does is push him out into the wilderness - the devil’s own territory. But he comes out of the
wilderness “leaning on the Lord” and preaching the gospel message: God’s kingdom is here; God is
here and God is on your side. Change your life and believe it.”
And he doesn’t just preach the message - he lives the message - he demonstrates the message -
he shows us what God is like and what is God’s way in the world. He meets all the bad news of the
world with the good news of the kingdom.
His passion, God’s passion, is to save people. He does all the things that God does: he calls
disciples; and casts out demons; heals people who need healing even if it is the Sabbath; touches lepers
- the untouchables of the day; and eats with sinners and tax collectors; and even allows a Gentile
woman to change his mind.
He is the kingdom of God.
Wherever Jesus is, there is abundance. A meal for four thousand, supper for five thousand is all
in a day’s work. and he takes whatever the disciples offer and blesses it - and it is just the way God
intended: there enough for everyone. His table is so big that there is a place for everyone.
And Jesus is always ready with a story to open people’s eyes to the wonder of the kingdom.
Always ready - because he’s been part of the covenant community - he knows the story - he knows
that God’s way is deliverance, not oppression; giving, not getting; life, not death.
I guess you could say that Jesus had really good eyes - God’s eyes - he could, as the Gospel
song says it, look beyond people’s faults and see their need. No sin is too great to be forgiven, no
sinner is beyond reach.
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