Day of the Church Year: Good Friday
Scripture Passage: John 19
Jesus dies an unjust death. Throughout the gospel of John, the Judean people, especially the Judean leaders, seek Jesus’ death for Jesus does and says things that dispute their own authority, that raise questions about their religious answers, that tell a different story about the world. Most significantly, Jesus announces his identity as Son of God, a capital offense in the Roman Empire. Finally, when Jesus stands before Pilate who is empowered by the Roman Empire to free him or put him to death, Pilate succumbs to the crowds even though he finds Jesus innocent. Perhaps we would have listened with an open heart to Jesus. If we were Pilate, perhaps we would have followed our conscience and not given in to political pressure. When others were shouting “Crucify him,” perhaps we would have protested. Perhaps.
But we yet live in an unjust world, an unjust world, sadly, of our own making. A world where some more than others encounter roadblocks in employment and education, housing and healthcare, the criminal justice system perhaps more than any other system. A world where some more than others are vulnerable to abuse and disrespect. A world where some more than others experience hardship and violence. On Good Friday, we remember that Jesus was one of those who did. Who encountered roadblocks, who was vulnerable to abuse and disrespect, who experienced hardship and violence. Jesus was one of the people who, like our neighbors or perhaps we ourselves today, is trapped by the sins of the world. According to John’s gospel, Jesus did not have to die in order to forgive sin for he forgave sin during his life. But Jesus’ death was caused by sin, by the short-sightedness of the Judean people, by the Roman empire’s abuse of power, by an ethic of violence and punishment.
On this Good Friday, we mourn the death of Jesus. And on this Good Friday, we mourn the death of all those who, like Jesus, are caught in unjust systems.
You may know that, whenever possible, usually on a monthly basis, we remember those who have died on the streets of Phoenix during a brief Community Memorial Service on Facebook live. A few days ago, I received the list of names of community members who died during January, February, and March. When I opened the excel documents, I realized new information had been added to the lists: the reason for death and the place of death for each person. While some of our community members died of illness while in a hospital or someone else’s residence, the reasons for death hit me suddenly and with great force: Suicide. Drug Overdose. Homicide. Traffic accident. And even more so, the places of death: Sidewalk. Desert area. Parking lot. Canal. Alley. Dumpster. Each person, caught in unjust systems, usually caught not just for a brief moment of their life but time and time again resulting in temporary or chronic homelessness. Each person, abandoned by family, sometimes by friends, and certainly abandoned by society but not abandoned by God. Each person a beloved child of God, each person a friend to someone, each person an artist or musician, skilled worker or volunteer, perhaps a member of the Grace community, and so we lift up each name and give thanks to God for the lives of the saints. Each person, we ourselves, are not alone and not forgotten.
Jesus dies an unjust death in an unjust world, and we know what that’s like. And God knows what that’s like. In the crucifixion of Jesus, we see a God unafraid of pain and suffering, unafraid of the fullness of the human experience. For Jesus’ death proclaims good news with an edge: that God is willing to enter into the crucible of crucifixion, into pain and suffering, into the fullness of the human experience—to be with us in our humanity and then to transform the suffering and injustice of the world. For Christ’s presence with us in suffering is what transforms the suffering of the world. Thanks be to God! Amen.