Text: John 19:25-27
Theme: “The Arrangements”
Good Friday
April 22, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
In the Name of Jesus
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Yesterday the Starbucks Coffee Company, through a popular social networking site, reminded its friends that today is Earth Day. Upon reading that post the thought occurred that, while being duly reminded that today is earth day, our friends at Starbucks might, in turn, be reminded that today is Good Friday.
While there is evidence of the misuse and even abuse of our natural resources, there is also evidence – staring back at us from the pages of Holy Scripture and banging into our eardrums – of the misuse and abuse of God’s Son. As an old children’s hymn puts it:
There is a green hill far away outside a city wall
Where our dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.
The Gospel records are long on the events of the day. But they are understandably short on capturing the mental, emotional, and physical anguish of Good Friday. In The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson took some literary license in his Hollywood portrayal of the day, and that is unfortunate. But he did capture, graphically, that particular kind of torture known as flogging. Some scholars are convinced that this abuse had so weakened Jesus that it made sense that they forced a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross. Many criminals, having endured flogging, died before they were even crucified. Overall, as Martin Hengel has pointed out in his work, Crucifixion, the Roman government was grimly efficient in the task of execution by means of a cross.
But, for the moment, pay no heed to the manner of death. The fact remains that, with any kind of death looming, arrangements must be made. At the same time, arrangements are made to remember death in memorial observances that dot human history.
During the years of Ronald Reagan’s U.S. presidency, arrangements were made for Mr. Reagan to visit a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany to honor American war dead from World War II buried there. When it was discovered that high-ranking officials in Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich were also interred at Bitburg, loud voices sprang up like Morel mushrooms in May. “Mr. President,” said Elie Weisel (a holocaust survivor), “Bitburg is not your place.”
For some folks, including some Christians, Good Friday is “not their place.” Simply stated, it’s too horrific, too surreal, too much like a bad dream. It’s a nightmare looped over and over again each year. It doesn’t fit with the notions of sweetness and light that we’re all so easily drawn to in our interactions with others. It’s a period that simply has to be endured as you look forward to the feasting and festiveness of Easter Day. Despite the fascinating series of events – both religious and political – that led to Christ’s execution, the ultimate reality of it all defies our understanding. And we tend to turn away from things we don’t understand. We Christians have an alliance with Good Friday; that much is true. But it is an uneasy alliance.
In the early years of my public ministry, I found myself involved in arrangements for the funeral of a beautiful little girl, six years old, who died of spina-bifida. Together with the little girl’s parents and other family members, we put together what I thought was fitting memorial service. But once the day arrived and the service began, something inside me told me to set aside my notes and, in a sense, wing it. Instead of a meditation, I invited the children there – and there were many in attendance! – to come forward for a children’s message. My point is that sometimes you can make the best arrangements only to have them change in the twinkling of an eye due to circumstances seemingly beyond your control.
On another occasion, making arrangements, I was sitting in the office of a funeral director in Muncie, Indiana. There was a plaque on his office wall with two artistic images. Upon closer examination, they were the faces of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. These are the men, as you’ll recall, who made arrangements to care for Jesus’ body after He died. The plaque declared Joseph and Nicodemus to be the “Patron Saints of Funeral Directors.”
Even our Lord Himself, with lifeblood pouring forth from His wounds and with time running out, made arrangements. He saw His own mother at the foot of the cross. There she stood with Jesus’ friend and disciple, John. Jesus said, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And to John He said, “Here is your mother.” We are told that from that point on, John welcomed Mary into his own family. If anything in world history qualifies as a touching moment, this is it. There was no raging by Jesus at the unfairness of it all. There was only love for His family.
But the ultimate and final arrangements, the arrangements that qualify this Friday to be called “Good”, are what I hope you will take with you in your mind and hearts when you leave this sanctuary in a few minutes.
Good Friday is “Good” because arrangements have been made for us all. Through Christ’s sacrifice, arrangements have been made for our sins to be forgiven. Arrangements have been made to tear in two the veil that separated us from our Maker. Arrangements have been made that we live today with fullness of joy simply because God loves us like this. Arrangements have been made for us to have a new estimate of the human race. We are completely free to consider every single human being – heedless of race, color, creed, or economic status -- as, first and above all else, a child for whom Christ was willing to die.
Nothing has changed except everything. This makes everything different, does it not? This is what makes Good Friday “Good”. Arrangements – good ones! – have been made for us all.
Amen.
Theme: “The Arrangements”
Good Friday
April 22, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
In the Name of Jesus
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Yesterday the Starbucks Coffee Company, through a popular social networking site, reminded its friends that today is Earth Day. Upon reading that post the thought occurred that, while being duly reminded that today is earth day, our friends at Starbucks might, in turn, be reminded that today is Good Friday.
While there is evidence of the misuse and even abuse of our natural resources, there is also evidence – staring back at us from the pages of Holy Scripture and banging into our eardrums – of the misuse and abuse of God’s Son. As an old children’s hymn puts it:
There is a green hill far away outside a city wall
Where our dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.
The Gospel records are long on the events of the day. But they are understandably short on capturing the mental, emotional, and physical anguish of Good Friday. In The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson took some literary license in his Hollywood portrayal of the day, and that is unfortunate. But he did capture, graphically, that particular kind of torture known as flogging. Some scholars are convinced that this abuse had so weakened Jesus that it made sense that they forced a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross. Many criminals, having endured flogging, died before they were even crucified. Overall, as Martin Hengel has pointed out in his work, Crucifixion, the Roman government was grimly efficient in the task of execution by means of a cross.
But, for the moment, pay no heed to the manner of death. The fact remains that, with any kind of death looming, arrangements must be made. At the same time, arrangements are made to remember death in memorial observances that dot human history.
During the years of Ronald Reagan’s U.S. presidency, arrangements were made for Mr. Reagan to visit a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany to honor American war dead from World War II buried there. When it was discovered that high-ranking officials in Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich were also interred at Bitburg, loud voices sprang up like Morel mushrooms in May. “Mr. President,” said Elie Weisel (a holocaust survivor), “Bitburg is not your place.”
For some folks, including some Christians, Good Friday is “not their place.” Simply stated, it’s too horrific, too surreal, too much like a bad dream. It’s a nightmare looped over and over again each year. It doesn’t fit with the notions of sweetness and light that we’re all so easily drawn to in our interactions with others. It’s a period that simply has to be endured as you look forward to the feasting and festiveness of Easter Day. Despite the fascinating series of events – both religious and political – that led to Christ’s execution, the ultimate reality of it all defies our understanding. And we tend to turn away from things we don’t understand. We Christians have an alliance with Good Friday; that much is true. But it is an uneasy alliance.
In the early years of my public ministry, I found myself involved in arrangements for the funeral of a beautiful little girl, six years old, who died of spina-bifida. Together with the little girl’s parents and other family members, we put together what I thought was fitting memorial service. But once the day arrived and the service began, something inside me told me to set aside my notes and, in a sense, wing it. Instead of a meditation, I invited the children there – and there were many in attendance! – to come forward for a children’s message. My point is that sometimes you can make the best arrangements only to have them change in the twinkling of an eye due to circumstances seemingly beyond your control.
On another occasion, making arrangements, I was sitting in the office of a funeral director in Muncie, Indiana. There was a plaque on his office wall with two artistic images. Upon closer examination, they were the faces of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. These are the men, as you’ll recall, who made arrangements to care for Jesus’ body after He died. The plaque declared Joseph and Nicodemus to be the “Patron Saints of Funeral Directors.”
Even our Lord Himself, with lifeblood pouring forth from His wounds and with time running out, made arrangements. He saw His own mother at the foot of the cross. There she stood with Jesus’ friend and disciple, John. Jesus said, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And to John He said, “Here is your mother.” We are told that from that point on, John welcomed Mary into his own family. If anything in world history qualifies as a touching moment, this is it. There was no raging by Jesus at the unfairness of it all. There was only love for His family.
But the ultimate and final arrangements, the arrangements that qualify this Friday to be called “Good”, are what I hope you will take with you in your mind and hearts when you leave this sanctuary in a few minutes.
Good Friday is “Good” because arrangements have been made for us all. Through Christ’s sacrifice, arrangements have been made for our sins to be forgiven. Arrangements have been made to tear in two the veil that separated us from our Maker. Arrangements have been made that we live today with fullness of joy simply because God loves us like this. Arrangements have been made for us to have a new estimate of the human race. We are completely free to consider every single human being – heedless of race, color, creed, or economic status -- as, first and above all else, a child for whom Christ was willing to die.
Nothing has changed except everything. This makes everything different, does it not? This is what makes Good Friday “Good”. Arrangements – good ones! – have been made for us all.
Amen.
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