St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes, Vicar
Good Friday/Year B: John 18:1-19:42
April 2, 2021
For many outside the walls of this church, this Friday is business as “usual.” Yet, we are here, to stand at the foot of the cross where a crucified Jesus hangs, painfully aware that there is nothing “usual” about Good Friday.
As Jesus was dying on the cross, an intimate gathering took shape consisting of four women, including the mother of Jesus, and his beloved disciple, John. They gazed upon him, having witnessed his suffering on the way to Calvary; the driving of the nails into his hands and feet; and his agony. They were helpless to save him. But, instead of running from the cross, they moved towards it—Five of them were there…and we are here.
Jesus saw his mother and John standing together and declared to Mary, “Woman, here is your son,” and subsequently to John, “Here is your mother.” I suspect that Jesus had a unique relationship with his mother—one that matured through shared life experiences from childhood to manhood. Jesus’ relationship with John was inherently very different from his relationship with his mother. Jesus and John shared experiences developed within the context of the teacher-disciple relationship across three years of Jesus’ public ministry.
On this day a mother’s relationship with her son and a disciple’s relationship with his teacher collide at the foot of the cross. It is Jesus’ crucifixion that binds the two, unique experiences into one shared experience of loss and grief. The mutual vulnerability between Jesus’ mother and John enabled them to find strength in each other. None of Jesus’ other disciples witnessed the cross event—they were in hiding fearing for their lives. But, Jesus’ mother and John were certainly there…and we are here.
The way of the cross is not for the faint of heart. The way of the cross is a journey of obedience to God’s will for our lives. Whether we struggle to carry our own cross or wrestle with witnessing someone else’s struggle to carry their cross, obedience to God’s will is hard and necessarily requires sacrifice.
When the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the son of God, was she not fully obedient to God’s will when she, replied, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” understanding that she could be killed as a pregnant, unwed woman in Jewish society. Mary was asked to risk her life for the sake of Jesus, and she said yes. When John faithfully followed Jesus, God incarnate, from town to town healing, feeding and teaching repentance to the crowds, all the way to the foot of the cross, when all others abandoned him, was he not being fully obedient to God’s will? Was Jesus not fully obedient to God’s will when he willingly sacrificed himself to suffer a scandalous death on the cross to save humankind from sin and death?
Along this journey of obedience Jesus’ life taught us that there will be loss and grief; bondage and liberation; exile and reconciliation; despair and hope. We should expect that those who are closest to us may not be found standing with us in the darkest places of our human suffering. Jesus, having lived as one of us, understood this, and embraced anyone who did the will of his Father in Heaven as his brother, his sister, and his mother.
So here we are, each of us standing at the foot of the cross; each with our own very unique relationships with Jesus. All of which collide today in this visceral, shared experience of Jesus’ death on the cross. Like Jesus’ mother and John, we find strength in our spiritual family—the Church—through which Christ’s love for us, and for the world, manifests.
My brothers and sisters, for many outside the walls of this church, today is a “usual” day. Spring Break and vacations are in full swing. But, we are here standing at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother, the other women and John. Let us embrace the extraordinary gift of this most unusual Friday and ponder the ways in which we walk each day in full obedience to God’s will.
Amen.
