2004-04-09 Good Friday Fourth Word - Page 3 of 3
promises to speak God’s praises. Or skip ahead to Easter. And we can do that - we can skip ahead to
the victory and vindication of Easter Day. But maybe we should wrestle with the angel some more.
And can we really just skip ahead anyway? I always remember the pastor of a church in my
hometown. It was back in the days when I played the organ, and David and I had done many weddings
together. Several years ago, one day in late March, his 20 year old daughter was killed in a tragic car
accident. “It should have been her wedding,” he said to me at the funeral and it broke my heart. A few
days later, he preached at the Good Friday service. “I’m not ready for Easter yet, I need to stay here
for a while.”
And there, in the wrestling, is where we can find the blessing, there in the Good Friday question,
there in the prayer.
Oh, yes, it is a prayer - Jesus is still talking to God, and so are we in those long and dark hours
when God seems absent.
One last thought - that question and God’s silence on Golgatha wasn’t all there was. Mark tells
us there was more.
Jesus had cried out to God - just like the Hebrew slaves long ago in Egypt had cried out - some
of you heard the Passover story last night - and so did Jesus. And remember what happened when the
slaves cried out: God heard their cry, and God remembered the covenant, and God took notice.
Freedom was coming.
No one on Golgatha could see it, but over in the Temple in Jerusalem, the curtain was torn in
two, from top to bottom. God heard Jesus cry out; God remembered; God took notice. God will show
God’s way. But, for now, we need to stay here, at the cross.
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