Home Learning
Lent and Easter 2015 |

Good Friday sermon "Silence"

 What do "progressive Christians" think about Good Friday. In this sermon Helen Jacobi says sometimes all we can do is be silent in the face of suffering. (Mark 15) 
Rev Helen Jacobi

Only logged in users can comment on a video.

Good Friday sermon "Silence"

Transcript
Good Friday, presents us with a stark Duality human power revealed as hostile to meaning, and hope and divine, meaning and hope exposed as completely vulnerable to human power. That's a quote from Rowan Williams, Good Friday, presents us with a stark Duality human power revealed as hostile to meaning and Hope. And divine meaning and hope exposed as completely vulnerable to human power. The mark version of the crucifixion story is certainly Stark. It's the first version to be recorded and it has marks signature style of Simplicity and focus. No, words wasted, no analysis, no theologizing. and yet, The Clash of Worlds, and Clash of powers, is there for all to see On the one side we see, human power human power represented by the palace and the governor's headquarters, the whole cohort of soldiers, the purple cloak, which was a sign of royalty and the crown of thorns. Jesus is labeled as a king king of the Jews and the soldiers, pay homage to him. Mark's Community are to be in. No doubt that this was a political political execution. Jesus is crucified between two Bandits, not robbers, as sometimes translated, these are not thieves, who break into your house. These are Bandits armed Rebels, who steal and plunder from those in power. It's the same word that Jesus uses when he throws the money changers, out of the temple. It's often translated. You have made it into a den of robbers but it really means Bandits, he's saying you're just like the bandits roaming, our roads plundering And then there is religious power. Those who pass by and mock him, remind him that he said he would destroy the temple and build it again in three days. Clearly, that's not going to happen. They think the chief priests are the ones with the upper hand. Now they will protect their Temple at all costs. After Jesus dies, Mark says the curtain of the temple is torn and to this was the curtain that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple. Only one person, the high priest was allowed to go behind the curtain, which was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and God himself was supposed to dwell there. And so, the curtain that protects that Holy place is torn from top to bottom. To signify that it's not torn by human hands. And then as the account finishes, we go back to political power, with Joseph of Arimathea going to Pilot to ask for the body. Political and religious power together. Triumph human power is revealed as hostile to meaning and Hope. And the middle of Mark's account, the political language pauses. And we hear that complete and utter, vulnerability with the words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Mark describes Darkness covering the land to to emphasize this darkest of hours. There is nothing left. The politics don't matter. The religious debates don't matter. All Is Lost. Jesus is alone and he is forsaken. Like a mother who has to hold her dying child. Like a refugee in Syria with no food, a father who can't feed his children. Like a slave held captive by ISIS. Like people in a plane crashing into a mountain. Like a child fearing their abuser. My God. My God, why have you forsaken me? Divine meaning and hope exposed as completely vulnerable to human power. The gospel writers. Matthew and Mark both include these words. Why have you forsaken me? Luke and John do not edited out maybe because they're just too Stark to alone. And yet, I think these words are the very heart of today of Good Friday because they tell us that God does not flinch from Pain. Our pain. It's real, it's not pretend. One of the early heresies of the church was that Jesus didn't really die. He somehow slipped away. But Mark, the gospel writer has pilot double check with the Centurion. That Jesus is really dead. He asks them, is he really did? Yes, he is. Divine meaning and hope exposed as completely vulnerable to human power. Rowan Williams says that all we can then do is keep silent before the cross. He says all there is is our own Stillness learning to look death in the face. And so we look at death And because we find God there. Then we are not afraid. It is not that we do not suffer, we do. It is not that we do not feel our pain and the pain of others. We do. But we are not afraid. Ron Williams says the cross is the darkness in which God has allowed to be God. in which the world descending into inner chaos returns to the very moment of creation when God speaks into the darkness Our silence. Our acceptance of the death of Creation in the death of Jesus. Makes room for the word that recreates, the broken world.