We have all seen so many crosses. In the church, in jewelry. There are so many different kinds and different shapes.
But I’ve never seen a real cross. A crucifixion cross.
I don’t mean something in the movies or even a replica. A real cross actually used for
crucifixion. I’ve never seen a
real cross. Probably you have not,
either.
A real cross.
Big, crude, covered with and smelling of God knows what.
With a dying man hanging on it. And some other crosses with other condemned men hanging near
by.
This day, Good Friday, challenges us to face, to experience,
that cross. To stand close enough
to touch and feel it, to smell it.
To be so close that we really can’t see anything else around or beyond
the cross.
And this service brings us there. The Good Friday service brings us face to face with a real
cross and Jesus crucified on it.
And THEN, standing there, we say: We glory in your
cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection; for by virtue of
your cross joy has come to the whole world.
This day brings us to the horror of the cross and then we
proclaim glory and praise. The challenge
for us, as Christians today, is to see THAT cross as a source of joy. To see the harsh, brutal, real cross as
the source of joy for the whole world.
John’s Gospel, which we read on Good Friday, doesn’t
describe what happened at the moment of Jesus’ death, but Matthew, whom we
heard on Sunday says: The earth shook, and the rocks were split. This service brings us close enough to
feel the earth shake. And then…
But just as the brutal cross is a source of joy, the earthquake
is a source of renewal. Easter
renewal is not about the daffodils of spring; it is about the earthquake.
Today we stand close enough to the real cross to hear and
see Jesus breath his last. To die
a real death. Only then can we see
new life triumph over death.
