Behold: the Lamb of God
Silence. You may be seated.
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Silence.
The Lord is in His holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.
I have loved, in my lifetime, wandering through old cemeteries. Quiet and peace, most often no one else to be seen or heard, I’m the only one around. Sometimes the tombstones of military veterans are marked with a flag. Here in the South, the oldest graves may have a Confederate Battle Flag, or the CSA Stars and Bars; which no longer but in my growing up years gave me a sense of heritage and pride. I had forebears fight and die in that War. Likely on both sides, though as a hymn stanza says, “Time makes ancient good uncouth”, I am no longer proud, but I’m here, I’m alive, with my sins, and my history, and the sins of the generations before me.
Springtime is best for walking graveyards, mild weather, trees greening as they return to life, azaleas in bloom, birds singing to each other the only sound in the silence of nature.
Fall is also good for a cemetery walk, late fall when leaves are down, crunching under my feet, brown and reminding me that life IS short, and we HAVEN’T much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us, those we love, and who love us. Turn around and life is done, and we are gone.
JESUS is gone, dead and buried, you heard the story. Lift high the Cross, tortured bloody, taunted, tormented, agonizing pain, finally the welcome release of death. Silence of the tomb as God the Father seethes in rage at what we have done. A day of darkness, not light.
Do not be fooled by pious theologians who struggle to rationalize this outrage, to lay it down as "the will of God" and let us off the hook, we “who set him at naught, pierced and nailed him to the tree”. This was not God’s will for Jesus, this was not God’s plan for the Lamb, this was not God’s dream for the Word who dwelt among us and we received him not. This was OUR doing - -
WE did this. As another hymn says, “I it was denied thee, I crucified thee”, YOU did this, you showed up wild-eyed, with a rope, a hammer, a handful of nails, and shrieking “AWAY WITH HIM, CRUCIFY HIM”, you did this, this is on YOU - - evil, sin, DEICIDE, the murder of God, the crime of the Ages that blasphemes Eternity itself: how will you talk your way out of this when you stand in judgment? And don’t try to blame the Jews, this was ROMAN justice.
Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and we have four Gospel stories, each a somewhat different memory of Good Friday. Today’s story is from the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John, where it happens not on Passover but on the Day of Preparation, the day the lambs are slaughtered for Passover.
Lambs are prominent in this gospel, do you remember John the Baptist’s acclamation of Jesus after his baptism?
behold: the Lamb of God.
behold: the Lamb of God.
That’s what this is all about, the Lamb of God somehow turning darkness to light.
Today John’s acclamation comes true on the day the lambs are slaughtered, the blood of the Lamb of God.
And now the silence of death: from the garden where Jesus lies, the silence of the grave. No light, no sound, the darkness of oblivion.
And yet? the Lamb of God conquers death with love, and turns our hatred upside down.
Our God Yahweh who, as Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac, became the answer: “Yahweh will provide Himself, the Lamb for sacrifice”, and we are saved.
Our God Yahweh, who, before that night of death for all firstborn in Egypt, ordered the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, then Moses leading us out of bondage, and we are saved.
Our God Yahweh, of whose Son, John cried, “Behold! The Lamb of God", the Lamb who was Slain. But it’s only Friday, it’s not over yet, God will claim the victory and save us one more Time again. As in the salvation hymn - - listen:
Awake and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb; wake every heart and every tongue to praise the Savior’s name.
Sing of his dying love, his resurrection power, sing how he intercedes above for those whose sin he bore.
You pilgrims on the road to Zion’s city, sing, rejoicing in the Lamb of God, to Christ the eternal king,
Soon shall each raptured tongue his endless praise proclaim, and sing in sweetest notes the song of Moses and the Lamb,
What have we done to earn or deserve the mercy of God’s lovingkindness after the Cross and the Tomb? Nothing. You cannot buy your way out of this. But by Grace are you saved. Grace alone, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Our God Yahweh never gives up on saving us. Yahweh: he’s such a Lamb, he never gives up.
Hallelujah!
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April 2, 2021, Good Friday sermon in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida. The Rev Tom Weller (retired), Priest Associate of the Parish. Text: John 18:1-19:42.
The Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ according to John (18:1-19:42)
(The customary responses before and after the Gospel are omitted. The congregation remains seated for the first part of the Passion. At the verse which mentions the arrival at Golgotha, all stand.)
Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus replied, "I am he." Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go." This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, "I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me." Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?"
So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.
Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus answered, "I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said." When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" Jesus answered, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?" Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.
Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered, "If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you." Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." The Jews replied, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death." (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate asked him, "What is truth?"
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, "I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" They shouted in reply, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a bandit.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him." So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God."
Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 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?" Jesus answered him, "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." From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor."
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. (ALL STAND) There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says,
"They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots."
And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.