EXHAUSTED

April 14, 2017

Good Friday

Matthew 26:36-56; 27:33-37,45-50

(silent prayer)

If you have spent time in United Churches over the last few decades, you will probably recognize some of the music of UCCan musician and hymn writer Linnea Good (Make a Joyful Noise All the Earth... A Light is Gleaming...Hey Now, Singing Hallelujah... When You Walk From Here).  One of her early songs (that never made the hymn books) is called "It Ain't Hip to be a Christian". The song highlights some of the questions that the absurd parts of Christianity raise.

A dude was born in Bethlehem

two thousand years away.

He talked about love

and he talked about sharing,

so they tortured

and they killed him one day...

He talked about love and he talked about sharing, so they tortured and they killed him one day...

It is an absurd tale when you sum it up like that.

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Good Friday is an absurd twist within the story of Jesus.

As a minister (especially when talking to children or people new to the church), it is one of the hardest issues to confront.  How could kind and loving Jesus go from hearing Hosanna on Sunday to Crucify on Friday?

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Last evening, there was a Maundy Thursday service.  It gets its name from the latin, mandatum (the same word behind the english word mandate)...  In the gospel of John, chapter 13, Jesus is quoted as saying to his disciples: I give you a new commandment (mandatum novum), that you love one another as I have loved you.

In the wider story of Jesus' life, we see that Jesus' focus was on a faith that was love and service lived-out.  How could that possibly result in a death sentence?

This quandary is not new.  It is as old as Christianity itself.

The crucifixion was a very difficult for the early church to explain.  If Jesus was God-incarnate, how is it that he couldn't avoid the cross.

In the end, the seeds of a theology of substitutional atonement was planted - thanks largely to the anonymous Letter to the Hebrews, which sought to aid early Christians with Jewish roots to adapt to this new faith expression: that Jesus' death was akin to a sacrificial offering as a means to absolve sins.

I can certainly see that there must have been pressure in the early church to try an justify Jesus' death as a meaningful and important part of the story of Jesus as the Messiah of God.

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The simple reality is that neither the Temple's high priest, Caiaphas, nor the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate, were part of conspiracy to have Jesus die for the sins of the world.

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Jesus ran afoul of the temple authorities because he upset the way the temple operated.  Most of the gospels agree that - right after Jesus entered Jerusalem (under waving palm branches) - [that] he publicly rebuked the practice that the temple grounds were being used to sell animals for sacrifices and to buy temple currency for offerings.

To the temple leaders, Jesus was an insignificant, small town rabbi, who was out of his league at the temple.  Some accused him of blasphemy.

As the week evolved, Caiaphas could not simply ignore Jesus.  The high priest had to get to the bottom of these accusations.  He had had enough.

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A bribe to one of Jesus' own disciples provided information about the location of Jesus' campsite, so he could be brought in for questioning after sunset to avoid as much public scrutiny as possible.

We heard the story of Jesus arrest earlier from the gospel of Matthew.

Before the temple police arrived, Jesus was off praying alone in a garden on the Mount of Olives.

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We heard the semi-humourous account of three of Jesus' close followers being simply too exhausted to stay awake while Jesus prayed.

It is a curious scene.  Why was it so important that they stay awake?  We're they supposed to be on the look out for any unwanted visitors?  Was it for moral support?

Certainly, in retrospect... it is symbolic of discipleship commitment.

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The final verse from Matthew 26 that was read indicates the level of commitment, not just of Peter, James and John, but of all of Jesus' disciples... "^56bThen all of the disciples deserted him and fled."

As I noted on Palm Sunday, Pontius Pilate was correct.  There was a political dimension to Jesus' message.  Some called him a king - which the Empire could not allow.  But, the Jesus-movement was non-violent.  Pilate knew (through experience) that with non-violent revolutionaries, deal harshly with the leader and the followers will disappear.  Pilate had no extra energy to waste on a nuisance like Jesus.

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I can relate to the disciples.  I have known times that (regardless of what might be the best thing to do) I just want to walk away... to hide... to pretend that the hard realities around me just aren't there.

I am not going to selfishly bear the depths of my soul in the context of this worship, but I have felt like crawling into a cave by myself a lot recently (not about my stolen car... that was an inconvenience that resolved itself relatively quickly - for the better in many ways).

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I doubt that I am alone in wanting the world to stop so I can get off.

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Life - when dominated by worry, fear, sadness, grief and other tough emotions can be exhausting.

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Remembering or imagining how that feels can help us relate to the harsh helplessness of Good Friday.

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As we listen to Jesus' Gethsemane prayer, he sounds as emotionally and spiritually exhausted as his disciples are physically exhausted.

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If we read further in the stories of Jesus' final day, we discover...

• How Peter was too worried about being dragged into court himself that he refused to admit knowing Jesus, even after witnesses were able to point him out: too exhausted to face the consequences of being an open follower of prisoner Jesus.
• How, before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod Antipas, Jesus expended almost no energy trying to fight the charges.  All of his options were exhausted.
• How, after Jesus was crucified, the disciples hid behind locked doors, mustering only the minimal amount of energy to burn and anoint Jesus' lifeless body.

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It was time to set aside the past and try to pretend that the world outside did not exist.

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#133VU “Go to Dark Gethsemane”