Good Friday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle A
The church year theological clue
The evolution of the church year - and the important place that Good Friday has in it - began with the weekly celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord; every Sunday was the occasion for celebrating the raising of Christ from the dead. When an annual celebration - Easter - of Christ's triumph over the grave came to be observed, it included Saturday and Friday; thus, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday formed the sacred Triduum, which led into the great fifty-day celebration of the Pasch. As Lent began to take shape, the Triduum changed so that it started with Holy Thursday, plus Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Today, Good Friday remembers the death of Jesus on the cross, Holy Saturday recalls the time he spent in the tomb, and Saturday night, in the Easter Vigil as the first eucharist of Easter, testifies to the reality of the resurrection. Good Friday has different content than Holy Thursday, making so-called "identical" Holy Thursday-Good Friday services liturgically and homiletically unacceptable. The Good Friday Gospel reading tells the story of the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, at Calvary. In at least one of the special Good Friday liturgies (LBW) a sermon is optional.
Preaching on Good Friday in the Year of Matthew
The most popular Good Friday preaching tradition features "The Seven Last Words of Christ." Usually, it is done within the scope of a three-hour liturgy, beginning at noon on Good Friday, and constituting the chief service of the day. Evening services are intended to review the whole story of Jesus' suffering and death, thus the longer reading listed above; a biblical narrative is a most suitable form for preaching on this long text (John 18:1--19:42). The shorter gospel (John 19:17-30) is better suited to a thematic sermon which might bring out the theological interpretation of the death of Christ on the cross. Although the Gospel of John is appointed for years A, B, and C, it seems fitting in year A, the Year of Matthew, that a sermon might be preached from Matthew's account of the crucifixion. John's gospel, which is traditional, may have been retained, at least in part, because it contains three "words from the cross." Matthew's gospel reports only one saying of Jesus as he hung there close to death, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" One reason for preaching upon this word is that scholars consider it to be the most authentic of the seven words Jesus is supposed to have said before he died.
A sermon on Matthew 27:47 - "The Darkest Moment in the Life of Jesus."
The whole business was revolting and disgusting; Jesus was "framed" for blasphemy by his enemies and doomed to death by a cowardly politician, who wanted nothing more than to keep the peace in Jerusalem during the Passover. The worst moment for Jesus came when he felt that God was not with him in this terrible experience, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
He must have cried out soon after they nailed him to the cross, or he would not have been able to speak an entire sentence as he quoted from the scriptures (Psalm 22:1), "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?" (Jerusalem Bible) Death by crucifixion was not for the faint-hearted, nor was it for the strong, who might have suffered the most; they might have been able to hold their bodies upright for a longer time, so that they could breathe. As executions went in those days, Jesus' didn't last very long, according to the reports. And Matthew says that he said only this one sentence before he died, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
1. Jesus was utterly alone in his death, deserted by his disciples and friends but also, he sensed, by God the Father. He really was God-forsaken. Had there been some friendly person near the cross, or had he been confident that God was there sharing in his suffering, he might have simply asked, "Why?" That's what Martin Quarrier did, in Peter Mattheissen's At Play in the Fields of the Lord, when he lay dying of a blow from a cross-marked machete wielded by one of the natives he was attempting to "save" in the wilderness of South America. It shouldn't have made any sense to Jesus, because it never really makes sense to us; there's an impenetrable mystery connected to the death of Jesus on the cross. Whenever we look at the Christ figure on the cross, we ask, "Why?" Why didn't he? Could it be because he had no one of whom to ask the question?
2. But Jesus really knew why he was dying a criminal's death, despite having done nothing wrong; this was to fulfill scripture and, thereby, make a radical change in the relationship of God and his people. What he didn't expect, according to Matthew (and Mark), was the complete absence of the one who had said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Did Jesus think that God would send angels to pull out the spikes and set him free? Probably not, but he did believe that he would have the comfort of God's presence as he was dying; surely, he had the right to expect that much from his heavenly Father. His death was the darkest moment in his life, not because he was dying, but because he could not sense the presence of God as death was about to claim him.
3. Jesus' last cry, at the time of his death, was a cry of surrender, when he turned over his life to the God who didn't seem to be there. The total despair that Jesus experienced had to be momentary, otherwise, he would have fought to live as long as he could. He died in the assurance that, as he had told the disciples from the words of the prophets, God would raise him from the dead. Together, his death and resurrection take the terror out of our deathtime, because our Lord will be with us as long as we live and see us through the darkest moment of our lives. We may dare to believe that God really is with us, in Christ, when we need him the most. He never lets us down, even in the face of death.
4. Jesus conquered sin in his life and destroyed the darkness of death when he died on the cross. He had to face the worst that death has to offer in order to win the victory over it. He may have cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - and really meant it - but before he died, he realized that God was there all the time. He is present at death, as well as in life. Each Good Friday tells us that - and we can never forget it.
The evolution of the church year - and the important place that Good Friday has in it - began with the weekly celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord; every Sunday was the occasion for celebrating the raising of Christ from the dead. When an annual celebration - Easter - of Christ's triumph over the grave came to be observed, it included Saturday and Friday; thus, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday formed the sacred Triduum, which led into the great fifty-day celebration of the Pasch. As Lent began to take shape, the Triduum changed so that it started with Holy Thursday, plus Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Today, Good Friday remembers the death of Jesus on the cross, Holy Saturday recalls the time he spent in the tomb, and Saturday night, in the Easter Vigil as the first eucharist of Easter, testifies to the reality of the resurrection. Good Friday has different content than Holy Thursday, making so-called "identical" Holy Thursday-Good Friday services liturgically and homiletically unacceptable. The Good Friday Gospel reading tells the story of the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, at Calvary. In at least one of the special Good Friday liturgies (LBW) a sermon is optional.
Preaching on Good Friday in the Year of Matthew
The most popular Good Friday preaching tradition features "The Seven Last Words of Christ." Usually, it is done within the scope of a three-hour liturgy, beginning at noon on Good Friday, and constituting the chief service of the day. Evening services are intended to review the whole story of Jesus' suffering and death, thus the longer reading listed above; a biblical narrative is a most suitable form for preaching on this long text (John 18:1--19:42). The shorter gospel (John 19:17-30) is better suited to a thematic sermon which might bring out the theological interpretation of the death of Christ on the cross. Although the Gospel of John is appointed for years A, B, and C, it seems fitting in year A, the Year of Matthew, that a sermon might be preached from Matthew's account of the crucifixion. John's gospel, which is traditional, may have been retained, at least in part, because it contains three "words from the cross." Matthew's gospel reports only one saying of Jesus as he hung there close to death, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" One reason for preaching upon this word is that scholars consider it to be the most authentic of the seven words Jesus is supposed to have said before he died.
A sermon on Matthew 27:47 - "The Darkest Moment in the Life of Jesus."
The whole business was revolting and disgusting; Jesus was "framed" for blasphemy by his enemies and doomed to death by a cowardly politician, who wanted nothing more than to keep the peace in Jerusalem during the Passover. The worst moment for Jesus came when he felt that God was not with him in this terrible experience, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
He must have cried out soon after they nailed him to the cross, or he would not have been able to speak an entire sentence as he quoted from the scriptures (Psalm 22:1), "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?" (Jerusalem Bible) Death by crucifixion was not for the faint-hearted, nor was it for the strong, who might have suffered the most; they might have been able to hold their bodies upright for a longer time, so that they could breathe. As executions went in those days, Jesus' didn't last very long, according to the reports. And Matthew says that he said only this one sentence before he died, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
1. Jesus was utterly alone in his death, deserted by his disciples and friends but also, he sensed, by God the Father. He really was God-forsaken. Had there been some friendly person near the cross, or had he been confident that God was there sharing in his suffering, he might have simply asked, "Why?" That's what Martin Quarrier did, in Peter Mattheissen's At Play in the Fields of the Lord, when he lay dying of a blow from a cross-marked machete wielded by one of the natives he was attempting to "save" in the wilderness of South America. It shouldn't have made any sense to Jesus, because it never really makes sense to us; there's an impenetrable mystery connected to the death of Jesus on the cross. Whenever we look at the Christ figure on the cross, we ask, "Why?" Why didn't he? Could it be because he had no one of whom to ask the question?
2. But Jesus really knew why he was dying a criminal's death, despite having done nothing wrong; this was to fulfill scripture and, thereby, make a radical change in the relationship of God and his people. What he didn't expect, according to Matthew (and Mark), was the complete absence of the one who had said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Did Jesus think that God would send angels to pull out the spikes and set him free? Probably not, but he did believe that he would have the comfort of God's presence as he was dying; surely, he had the right to expect that much from his heavenly Father. His death was the darkest moment in his life, not because he was dying, but because he could not sense the presence of God as death was about to claim him.
3. Jesus' last cry, at the time of his death, was a cry of surrender, when he turned over his life to the God who didn't seem to be there. The total despair that Jesus experienced had to be momentary, otherwise, he would have fought to live as long as he could. He died in the assurance that, as he had told the disciples from the words of the prophets, God would raise him from the dead. Together, his death and resurrection take the terror out of our deathtime, because our Lord will be with us as long as we live and see us through the darkest moment of our lives. We may dare to believe that God really is with us, in Christ, when we need him the most. He never lets us down, even in the face of death.
4. Jesus conquered sin in his life and destroyed the darkness of death when he died on the cross. He had to face the worst that death has to offer in order to win the victory over it. He may have cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - and really meant it - but before he died, he realized that God was there all the time. He is present at death, as well as in life. Each Good Friday tells us that - and we can never forget it.
