The Bad and Good of 'Good Friday'
Good Friday – Year C
April 2, 2010

Let us pray: O God, guide my words and use them for your good on this “Good Friday”. Amen

The good thing about this day is that it is so real. There is not much about the story of Holy Week that does not ring true. We know that good people – especially people who dare to offer bold new ways of justice, who dare to upset the power structures of the day, who challenge empire – sometimes just by living their life differently – can get into trouble. We know there are very real circles of power – often unstated, tacitly acknowledged, and sealed with knowing glances, unsaid compacts, and old networks of who knows who and who helps who. This is all very real. We've witnessed it in our own lives. We've seen the signs of empire all around us. We also know the fickleness of crowds. We know how moods can change in an instant, with the cry of a wild-eyed zealot, or as a result of an injustice, perceived or real. We know that raised expectations when presented with dashed hopes can suddenly change the mood; and the level of involvement, passion and anger can go from level one to level four in a breath. We also know the pain of grief. Whether we've experienced it closely in our own lives or not, we do not have to look very far to find examples too numerous to mention of grief being felt by people in so many places. The family of an infant with a gunshot wound as a result of drunken rage, and gang conflict. The friends and family of a teenager stabbed in the middle of the day in the middle of a crowd because of a long standing feud. The people left to mourn innocent subway riders killed to make a cowardly political statement. Earthquake victims still waiting almost three months later to find shelter that will keep them dry and safe in the midst of a season of rain and tropical storms. Our news feeds and broadcasts are full of stories of the pain of human life on earth. Those same news feeds and broadcasts don't begin to tell the story of what it is like for the people left to deal with the death of a loved one, or the disbelief that their family member has died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, we know the level at which we can find sadness, despair, heartache, brokenness, violence and pain in this our world.

We also know that a modicum of compassion in a person with power can soon disintegrate because of other pressures. We know that it can sometimes be easier to let the mob rule than to do the right thing. We might even know what it is like to have to live with that kind of decision, once taken.

Yes, there is an awful lot of 'real' about the Good Friday story, such a lot of 'real' that if we allow ourselves to be there in the crowd – whether it is the crowd yelling “kill him” or the crowd of loved ones, hoping against hope that it will not transpire as it did, or the crowd of instigators rubbing their hands in satisfaction, or the crowd of pseudo-powerful people who delight in the mocking and derision, or the small crowd of co-accused hanging on the crosses beside him – one sharing his pain, the other even as he contemplates his own death joining with the jeering crowd.

And I suppose that because it is so 'real' if we allow it to be that way for us, that that is 'good'. For it takes a story from our faith and puts it right here at heart level. There's lots of stuff to get our head around as well, but you can't tell a passion story without involving the heart.

But the bad thing about this day is that it is so 'real'. In fact all the reasons I cited for calling it 'good' are the same reasons for calling it 'bad'. Bad things can happen to good people – and not just because of circumstance or by accident. Good people can raise the ire of the power hungry. Good people can remind others that the emperor has no clothes. Good people can demonstrate what a sham the whole empire game can be. Good people can hold other 'so-called' good people up to the light, and expose them for what they really are.

In case you haven't noticed, the whole Good Friday drama, 'real' as it is with its raw human characteristics, its passion, its grief, its sadness, its anger, its fickle crowds and power hungry religious and political leaders, its compassionate but weak second level of bureaucracy, its earnest but timid friendships, is a monumental, mythic tale of bad and good.

This is proof to the death of what Jesus was about in his stories of the community of God. This is Jesus living and dying the relationship with God that he talked about, that he demonstrated, that gave him the power to heal the dis-ease that confronted him as he went around telling the stories, living his faith, alternately compelling and mysterious, gentle and assertive, touching hearts and minds, and confusing and stretching them as well.

Jesus said the last will be first, the leader will be the servant, the outcast and the least would be foremost at the feast. And then he lived it right to the bitter end.

And you know we can't say it is 'real' and not be there. We are there – somewhere in the crowd – and being the struggle of bad and good, we have to take a side – which crowd are we in? Are we among the crowd who hailed him one day and condemned him the next? Are we among the religious authorities who saw his new way as so compelling and attractive that it threatens our status? Are we among the aghast friends who cannot believe what has happened? Are we the stalwart Joseph of Arimathea standing against his Pharisee colleagues asking for the body to give it an honour that was not afforded it when Jesus was alive? Are we the earnest and impetuous Peter – except when it looked like it might take us along the same path as him? I'll follow you Jesus right up until the point when it might get dangerous. Are we the oh so faithful disciples who fell asleep in the hour of need?

It's so 'real' that I can find myself in many of these places. I would like to think that I would stand by him. I would like to think that I wouldn't deny him. I would like to think that I could see through all the empire stuff happening and recognise that he did indeed represent a new way, a powerful way, if only others could see it as well. If only we could look beyond the selfish desires of power, status, money and work to bring people into the community of God.

What we are not quick to assert is our own involvement in the Good Friday stories that are happening today. There are dramatic stories of injustice happening everywhere. Where are we in the crowds that surround them?

The Good Friday story is 'real' and that is both good – for it meets us where we are – human beings sharing this planet home – and bad – for it tells us what can happen when God's way is forgotten, when God's path is not followed. And yet it is a story about the one who told us and showed us how to follow the path of God. And that is the poignant mystery of this day – 'real' but mysterious because Good Friday did not seal it. This is but a stop – a deep, dark, place, as dark as a cave, as cold as a tomb, as lonely as can be – but it is just a stop. And that is where we'll stop, for now. Just let it sit, and sink in – but a time will come when we are given the chance to get up and keep going. It's coming, not too far from now....Amen.