We are now in a very small season, a three day season, that is partly within the season of Lent and partly in Easter. It is such a powerful season that it overpowers Lent and has an entirely different character. Today we are fasting, or should be, if health permits. The fast today, however, is the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, the great three days. Adrian Nocent, in his commentary on Good Friday, states that this fast is actually a festive fast. He says that “it takes place within the paschal mystery, and the dominant mood is expectation of the Lord’s glorious resurrection.”
When I first read his commentary a few years ago, that was a new thought to me. I have always seen the Good Friday fast as our small way of identifying with the sacrifice of Christ: our small sacrifice to identify with his complete sacrifice, our small way of suffering in light of his great suffering on our behalf. And the fast on this day will always have something of that character for me, I feel quite certain.
Yet, what Nocent says also makes sense. Good Friday is Good Friday because, by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, you and I are redeemed. We know Good Friday to be good because we are on the other side of the resurrection; we know that he who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,” has been highly exalted by God, who “has bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
We are not the only ones who know this day to be good, as sorrowful a day as it is because of the sin of humanity. All four of the evangelists knew it, too, and so Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote their accounts of the passion and death of Christ from the perspective of the resurrection. They were all careful to show that the crucifixion was not a victory for the devil, but the ultimate victory for God.
Think with me for a moment about the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John, part of which you have just heard, about the “tip-offs” St. John gives that Jesus is the victor at the same time that he is the victim. Jesus himself speaks of his crucifixion as his glorification. By his crucifixion he is going to the Father, and while he is going to the cross, he prays for his disciples, and for all Christians to come—a point for the victor.
In the garden, when the soldiers came to arrest him at night, he boldly goes to them and identifies himself as the man they were seeking. So far it looks as if Jesus is in control of the situation—another point for the victor.
He was taken to Caiaphas, the High Priest, who prophetically states that it is expedient that one man should die for the people. Caiaphas had no idea that he was speaking of the redemption of the world, but he was—a point for the victor.
Pilate found no crime in Jesus and wished to disassociate himself from the move to have him crucified. John tells us he was actually afraid by what was happening, especially when he heard reference to Jesus as the Son of God—point for the victor.
Finally Pilate gave in to the crowds and had Jesus crucified. On the cross he had placed the sign, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” This is a sign that Jesus is not an imposter, but truly God’s anointed—another point for the victor.
John is also quick to point out that the soldiers’ desire not to divide Jesus’ garment was in fulfillment of scripture—another point for the victor.
And on the cross, in unimaginable agony, he cares for his mother by giving over her care to John, the beloved disciple—point for the victor.
Sermon preached by the Very Reverend Fredrick A. Robinson
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Good Friday
March 25 2016