April 10, 2009
(Good Friday)
At the Cross Is Where We Must Be
By
The Very Rev. Terry White,
Dean
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 • Psalm 22 • Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 •
John 18:1-19:42
(From The
Lectionary Page)
Let us pray. Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The psalmist captures the anguish of this day.
1 My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? *
and are so
far from my cry
and from
the words of my distress?
It is a day to fast -- from food, the usual preoccupations, the usual distractions, the usual attitudes, from virtually everything usual. This is the day our Lord Jesus was willing to die upon the cross. For Easter Day to convert and renew us, we must stand in the shadow of the cross, the one and only noble tree. If we are to proclaim the resurrection, we must tell of the triumph of the victim, Jesus Christ the world’s Redeemer, who from the cross reigns as King.
14 I am poured
out like water;
all my
bones are out of joint; *
my heart
within my breast is melting wax.
Our Lord’s suffering and death means that God knows what each of us endures: the anguish, betrayal, physical and emotional pain, and sense of being abandoned by everyone, even God. As Jesus breaths his last, we weep, we mourn, and we trust in his promises: if a grain of wheat dies and falls into the earth . . .I am resurrection and life. . . on the third day I will rise again.
But for now, on this day, we stand at the foot of the cross. We place our sins there that the precious blood might wash them away, we gaze upon divine love, and we pray for the repentance and faith of the thief: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. There, at the Cross, is where we must be.
Hymn 172 (Listen to the hymn here)
Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set your passion, cross, and death between your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living; pardon and rest to the dead; to your holy Church peace and concord; and to us sinners everlasting life and glory; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever.
