The Darkest Day - Good Friday 2008
Text: John 18:28-19:42
I remember once when I was a student, I was out for my field placement day at the church that I was assigned to during Holy Week. My mentor, the minister that served there, was normally quiet and reserved. He had a great deal of quiet wisdom and integrity, and even in retirement has a great deal of respect from the church at large. During Holy Week he seemed particularly fidgety, and came across as being rather nervous. When I asked him about it, he expressed that he was a bit antsy about preaching on Good Friday.
“How do you preach on the most significant event in human history?” he asked as he paced back in forth in front of his bookshelf. I took his question to be rhetorical, because as a student it would be awfully presumptuous of me to hand this well respected veteran of the pulpit a simple answer. It also struck me that his nervous energy was directed not at Easter Sunday, when the largest crowd would be present in the church, but at Good Friday when the attendance is nowhere near as large.
“How does one possibly come up with the words that can cover the entire meaning of the events of Good Friday?”
On doing some further reflection, I think he’s right… or rather, no amount of words I can possibly offer from this pulpit at this time could possibly encompass everything that the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus means. Two thousand years later, we’re still trying to come to terms with it. We know the story, the symbol of the cross is quite literally in front of us all the time reminding us of the events of this day… but do we really know the story? I’m not sure we do, which is why we keep coming back here, to this place, that dark hill on that darkest of days.
With the four gospels, all of them share this passion story. The differences, the nuances, tell us a great deal with what each of them was trying to say. In the Gospel of John, there is one that emerged. Not while Jesus was carrying the cross, nor while he was on it… but in a conversation between the Roman Governor and Jesus before his sentence was rendered.
Pilate therefore said to him. “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?”(John 19:10)
Pilate, of course, is talking on a very immediate, tangible level. It’s the reality that Jesus faces. The Roman Governor is the ultimate secular authority in the region, and literally has the power of life and death. It’s even remarkable that he’s even having this conversation with Jesus… because he may not have otherwise bothered, and simply had Jesus executed for being no more than a public nuisance.
But the real reply, and the foreshadowing that comes out of this is in the answer that Jesus gives:
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11)
You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.
It’s a throwaway phrase, really… but in the midst of the familiar walk to the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails… all those familiar symbols it almost gets lost amidst the darkness of the day. John has a habit of putting out this great, flowery language… and admittedly, I think our eyes tend to glaze over a bit. It may be one of the reasons why we might miss a line like this. It only appears in John, and it gives us a bit of insight into how John understood the events of the crucifixion.
To be perfectly blunt, Jesus says to Pilate “You have no power over me.”
“You have no power over me.”
Now who in their right mind would say that to the face of a Roman Governor who is well known for being particularly cruel? Despite the fact that he is portrayed as washing his hands of the whole affair, or being swayed by the Mob, there’s historical evidence that Pilate himself was recalled from his position for being too brutal on the local population. This is like waving a red flag at a bull.
“You have no power over me.”
The real darkness of this day was the attempt by the powers that be, be they civilian, military, Judean, or Roman, to prove Jesus wrong. Jesus said to Pilate, “you have no power over me.” –Oh yeah? We’ll see about that.
In the agonizing hours that followed, they tried to prove him wrong. It wasn’t enough to simply kill Jesus, anyone could have pulled out a sword and done that… they drew it out, slowed it down, and made a point of making this an excruciatingly painful way to go. They did so in a way that was public, for everyone to see… and to demonstrate to the people at large that indeed they did have power over Jesus. They not only controlled his life, but they would control his death. By pinning him to a cross with cruel nails, they would ensure that he would suffocate to death in full, public view… literally hung out to dry.
To those who scorned at Jesus, his claim to Pilate now seemed hollow. Jesus and his followers would learn a hard and painful lesson that yes, indeed, they did have power over him. As far as Pilate and the others were concerned, the cross proved it. They threw everything they had at Jesus, and now, perhaps mercifully, it was all over. Jesus was dead.
Even so, the words of Jesus echoed on… “You have no power over me.”
I think this is what my mentor was getting at when he was calling this the most significant event in human history. It was a moment in time when the world took everything it had and threw it at Jesus… including the very power of death itself. This was the day that humanity tried to kill God… to make matters worse… we did. Jesus may have said to Pilate, “You have no power over me” but on that darkest day, it seemed as if the opposite was true. Even so, as Joseph of Aramethea and Nicodemus take the body of Jesus into the tomb. as they roll the stone to close the grace, the whispers of Jesus would still be there:
“You have no power over me.”
But on this darkest day, they do have power over us. Our anxieties and fears, our own mortality, and a personal struggle for meaning are all very real. We cannot simply skip ahead to Easter and pretend that none of this happens… because it not only does, it is something that each of us faces in our own lives. Even when Jesus says to Pilate, “you have no power over me” it doesn’t spare him from the brutal reality of his sentence. It doesn’t spare him being lacerated with a barbed whip; it doesn’t spare him from the hammer that drove the nails through his flesh; and it didn’t spare him from suffocating to death.
Our faith is not about being spared from the realities of life that we face. Good Friday shows us that not even God is spared from it. On that darkest day, through this experience of Jesus, God truly understands what it is to be human. But when it is all said and done, after the blood has ceased to flow, after life itself has trickled and breathed its last, the words of Jesus remain.
“You have no power over me.” Only God does.
And God has something more to say on Easter Morning.
I remember once when I was a student, I was out for my field placement day at the church that I was assigned to during Holy Week. My mentor, the minister that served there, was normally quiet and reserved. He had a great deal of quiet wisdom and integrity, and even in retirement has a great deal of respect from the church at large. During Holy Week he seemed particularly fidgety, and came across as being rather nervous. When I asked him about it, he expressed that he was a bit antsy about preaching on Good Friday.
“How do you preach on the most significant event in human history?” he asked as he paced back in forth in front of his bookshelf. I took his question to be rhetorical, because as a student it would be awfully presumptuous of me to hand this well respected veteran of the pulpit a simple answer. It also struck me that his nervous energy was directed not at Easter Sunday, when the largest crowd would be present in the church, but at Good Friday when the attendance is nowhere near as large.
“How does one possibly come up with the words that can cover the entire meaning of the events of Good Friday?”
On doing some further reflection, I think he’s right… or rather, no amount of words I can possibly offer from this pulpit at this time could possibly encompass everything that the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus means. Two thousand years later, we’re still trying to come to terms with it. We know the story, the symbol of the cross is quite literally in front of us all the time reminding us of the events of this day… but do we really know the story? I’m not sure we do, which is why we keep coming back here, to this place, that dark hill on that darkest of days.
With the four gospels, all of them share this passion story. The differences, the nuances, tell us a great deal with what each of them was trying to say. In the Gospel of John, there is one that emerged. Not while Jesus was carrying the cross, nor while he was on it… but in a conversation between the Roman Governor and Jesus before his sentence was rendered.
Pilate therefore said to him. “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?”(John 19:10)
Pilate, of course, is talking on a very immediate, tangible level. It’s the reality that Jesus faces. The Roman Governor is the ultimate secular authority in the region, and literally has the power of life and death. It’s even remarkable that he’s even having this conversation with Jesus… because he may not have otherwise bothered, and simply had Jesus executed for being no more than a public nuisance.
But the real reply, and the foreshadowing that comes out of this is in the answer that Jesus gives:
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11)
You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.
It’s a throwaway phrase, really… but in the midst of the familiar walk to the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails… all those familiar symbols it almost gets lost amidst the darkness of the day. John has a habit of putting out this great, flowery language… and admittedly, I think our eyes tend to glaze over a bit. It may be one of the reasons why we might miss a line like this. It only appears in John, and it gives us a bit of insight into how John understood the events of the crucifixion.
To be perfectly blunt, Jesus says to Pilate “You have no power over me.”
“You have no power over me.”
Now who in their right mind would say that to the face of a Roman Governor who is well known for being particularly cruel? Despite the fact that he is portrayed as washing his hands of the whole affair, or being swayed by the Mob, there’s historical evidence that Pilate himself was recalled from his position for being too brutal on the local population. This is like waving a red flag at a bull.
“You have no power over me.”
The real darkness of this day was the attempt by the powers that be, be they civilian, military, Judean, or Roman, to prove Jesus wrong. Jesus said to Pilate, “you have no power over me.” –Oh yeah? We’ll see about that.
In the agonizing hours that followed, they tried to prove him wrong. It wasn’t enough to simply kill Jesus, anyone could have pulled out a sword and done that… they drew it out, slowed it down, and made a point of making this an excruciatingly painful way to go. They did so in a way that was public, for everyone to see… and to demonstrate to the people at large that indeed they did have power over Jesus. They not only controlled his life, but they would control his death. By pinning him to a cross with cruel nails, they would ensure that he would suffocate to death in full, public view… literally hung out to dry.
To those who scorned at Jesus, his claim to Pilate now seemed hollow. Jesus and his followers would learn a hard and painful lesson that yes, indeed, they did have power over him. As far as Pilate and the others were concerned, the cross proved it. They threw everything they had at Jesus, and now, perhaps mercifully, it was all over. Jesus was dead.
Even so, the words of Jesus echoed on… “You have no power over me.”
I think this is what my mentor was getting at when he was calling this the most significant event in human history. It was a moment in time when the world took everything it had and threw it at Jesus… including the very power of death itself. This was the day that humanity tried to kill God… to make matters worse… we did. Jesus may have said to Pilate, “You have no power over me” but on that darkest day, it seemed as if the opposite was true. Even so, as Joseph of Aramethea and Nicodemus take the body of Jesus into the tomb. as they roll the stone to close the grace, the whispers of Jesus would still be there:
“You have no power over me.”
But on this darkest day, they do have power over us. Our anxieties and fears, our own mortality, and a personal struggle for meaning are all very real. We cannot simply skip ahead to Easter and pretend that none of this happens… because it not only does, it is something that each of us faces in our own lives. Even when Jesus says to Pilate, “you have no power over me” it doesn’t spare him from the brutal reality of his sentence. It doesn’t spare him being lacerated with a barbed whip; it doesn’t spare him from the hammer that drove the nails through his flesh; and it didn’t spare him from suffocating to death.
Our faith is not about being spared from the realities of life that we face. Good Friday shows us that not even God is spared from it. On that darkest day, through this experience of Jesus, God truly understands what it is to be human. But when it is all said and done, after the blood has ceased to flow, after life itself has trickled and breathed its last, the words of Jesus remain.
“You have no power over me.” Only God does.
And God has something more to say on Easter Morning.
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