Good Friday ---- 30 March 2018

(At St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church)

‘It is finished.

·        So, Jesus, what do you mean by that? “It is finished.”

·        What’s finished? Your life? I can see that. You’re crucified! Such a horrible way to go. I don’t even want to think about the pain you endured. I don’t want to think about the message the Empire was sending to everyone who saw you… and the two bandits crucified on either side of you. The Empire wants us to think about that; that’s why this was done in public… so everyone could see it… and be afraid.

·        Pilate put the placard “The King of the Jews” over your head, the charge to explain why you were crucified. So what’s finished? The dream of an Israel free from domination? A people able to set their own course in the world? That seems done to a turn as well.

·        Is it the hope for the kingdom of God finished? How would we know? We don’t even know what that would look like. We’ve had ideas but you had us look in another direction, to another place.

·        What’s finished? Your life’s work? Your preaching? Your way of showing everyone the mercy of God by accepting the sinner and the person who didn’t or cannot keep the Law? Oh, we had such hope for that; all of us who are called poor or sinners or unrighteous or tax collectors or prostitutes. Was there more you wanted to tell us? Was there more to be explained? More to be revealed? I thought there’d be more to say… but it’s finished now. Even if there were more to say, there’s no way of saying it. Not with nails in your hands and a spear stuck in your chest. Nothing more can be said.

·        So what’s finished? You were the son of a carpenter, a guy who knew edges and joining and building… and finishes for wood. Do you mean that something here is just ended… or is it completed?

·        A workman like your father, Joseph, might take a step back and look at the finished product, check for flaws and rough edges, and maybe take some quiet pride in a job well done. Taking a good look at something he’d be happy to deliver to a customer. Is that what you mean? Is it completed? Was this the last step?

·        Finished? Looks like you hardly started! Maybe something else is going on. Finished… ended… completed… what else could that mean? Completed or… what’s the word? “Accomplished” Well, that’s a word that could mean something. What did you accomplish? Did you do what you set out to do? That’s frightening! I’ll need to sit down and think about that. Maybe I can sit here at the foot of your cross and consider this a while.

·        Well, the soldiers have stuck you with a spear and that Joseph of Arimathea guy is said to be coming to take your body down to bury it. Maybe I can see where they take you. Maybe I’ll make sense of all this someday. Maybe I’ll just remember all this – what you said and what you did. Maybe I’ll visit your tomb after the Sabbath. Maybe I’ll still have hope when that first day of the week arrives.

·        Maybe. Maybe what you promised will be true and things will be different.

·        Who knows? Maybe I’ll even say “We adore you and we bless you, for by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.”