An Good Friday Sermon
The Cross: Cosmically Significant and Significantly Personal
The death of Jesus and the events of Good Friday are of cosmic significance. There is not a single element of the universe that is not affected by the reality of Jesus’ death.
If it were any different we would not be gathering today.
And yet, in spite of its cosmic significance there is a deeply human and personal reality to the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Throughout the story of Jesus’ arrest, his trial and crucifixion are the very human stories of those with whom Jesus shared his life. People who felt and experienced the events of this day; people who would later give witness to what had taken place. These are people with their own stories and their own circumstances who lived out the confronting reality of what was taking place. They experienced the pain, suffering, and confusion of Good Friday and bore the weight of his death at deeply personal level.
Through the stories of Peter, Mary, and others we discover that this story of cosmic significance is also a story that is significantly personal!
There is an experience to be had in the hope of the Easter story. It is a story that makes sense and makes a difference.
This morning I want to draw on one deeply personal story: The story of Peter and his denial. It occurs before Jesus’ crucifixion on the way to the cross and it brings together the cosmically significant salvation story of Jesus with the very real and human story of Peter.
This story is a well-known gospel story. In a human sense, when Jesus needed Peter the most, Peter turned his back on Jesus. It is easy to be hard on Peter however, if we allow ourselves to lean into the humanness of Peter’s story we might find a deeper connection than we realise.
Imagine for a moment the disorientation, confusion, and inner turmoil that Peter must have been experiencing at this moment. His world was being thrown into chaos and at the crucial moment Peter is not in a place to trust.
In a split second decision he chooses safety over trust.
Who among us has not been in this situation and experienced times when our own life is in turmoil – when all hell has broken loose. At some point our own loyalty to God is called into question. Its as if life asks us, “Are you one of his?” If you’re anything like me, you’ve answered as Peter did, “I am not.”
We all walk seasons of life in which it is personally difficult to trust in the Lord. Times when we are alone and vulnerable, unsure of what is taking place, seasons in which we don’t have the spiritual resilience to trust God.
For me, there were times in 2014 when life looked me in the eyes and asked me if I was “one of his”. Some days I said, “I am not” and failed to trust. Other days I found the strength to hold on. God gets one more day I told myself, one more day of trusting in Him.
The glorious element of Peter’s story is that his un-trust is not the end of the story. In the days following Easter, Peter is confronted by the risen Jesus and asked to trust him again. As he answers each question he reaffirms his commitment to trust Jesus and is restored.
However, in order to get to that place Peter had to endure the cross.
The gospels tell us that Peter and the others fled – Not to be seen until after the Sabbath.
Whether he was there at the cross or not Peter still knew that Jesus was there. He had to witness the crucifixion of the one he loved in the shadow of his denial. Peter carried this burden to the cross. This is the story Peter brought to the cross.
Peter’s denial was a truly human moment. It was a moment when Peter did not want to be known as one of his because he simply couldn’t trust God and all of this was taking place in the shadow of the cross.
Do you remember that hymn, ‘At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my sin rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the days…’
This morning we find ourselves at the cross. Whether we are at the foot of the cross like Mary and the beloved disciple, or we look on from a distance like Peter, we are at the cross.
At the cross we are confronted with a crucified Jesus – Knowing in part that we are responsible for him being there. Knowing that he is also there because he chose to be there for us and for the world.
At the cross we are reminded of the death of death: That in Christ sin and death have been defeated. These are the cosmically significant elements to the story of the crucifixion.
And yet at the cross we are also confronted at a personal level with the reality of who we are. At the cross there is nowhere to hide. Each of us comes to the cross today with our own story. We all carry our own burden and for each one of us the cross confronts us in a different way.
- Some of us here today are experiencing pain, suffering, and confusion.
- Some among us have endured prolonged seasons of disorientation.
- Spiritually speaking we don’t know if up is down and down is up.
The thing about Good Friday is there are no answers. We still have to endure Easter Saturday before any of what we witness makes sense. Sometimes God asks us to trust him and endure the season of disorientation.
I want to ask you today:
- Is there something you need to confront in your own heart?
- Is there something you’d like to leave behind here at the cross?
- Is it time to let go of something?
If there is then this is the place to do it.
The humanity of Peter found life on the other side of the cross but to get there he had to endure. We are called upon today to lean into the horror of Jesus’ death and also the discomfort of our own story. We are asked to sit with it until Easter Sunday and allow God to do his salvation work.
Peace be with you this Good Friday. I pray you find hope and resurrection life in a real and meaningful way come Sunday morning because in the words of the old time preacher, “Its Friday, but Sunday is a comin’”
