Freedom
Freedom Good Friday 2024
Archdeacon John Motis
Back in October 2000, Laura, Chip Thullbery and I traveled to Washington DC for the 25th Annual Marine Corp Marathon. The marathon starts and finishes in Arlington National Cemetery, with the finish line at the Iwo Jima Monument.
As we entered the cemetery grounds, I became overwhelmed at the site. A sea of white crosses as far as the eye could see filled the landscape, perfect rows, and diagonals. They continued along a road, which made a large circle and eventually came to the monument area. I did a little research and I have come to know that there are 400,000 crosses. This scene affected me deeply, I think for the first time in my life, I saw the bitter reminder of the cost of freedom. The hard reality, that the price of freedom is blood.
So many times, I have watched movies and TV shows that showed scenes from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. That may be the reason why my mind began to visualize scene after scene of men lying on the ground bleeding and dying in battle, some on the beaches, some in the countryside, jungle, and some in the cities. I was overwhelmed, I felt that I was entering truly sacred ground. Somehow, the emotion of running a marathon suddenly seemed so small!
Perhaps, this scene of so many crosses and the deaths that they represent might be for us a reminder of the One who bled and died on the cross so that we all would be made free.
The scene of Jesus bleeding on the cross is a moment frozen in time that affects everything in the universe. As the last drops of His life were draining out, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”. The work was finished.
The Greatest Rescue mission of all time!
This is the work that Jesus came into the world to do. This was His mission, His calling, His purpose, and nothing was going to get in the way of Him fulfilling it.
“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth,” was Jesus’ response when Pilate asked why the nation and the chief priests have handed him over.
Pilate, then asked, “what is truth?”
I think Jesus is talking primarily about God’s self-disclosure in Jesus. Jesus was born so that He could show us what God is like. This revelation of truth can be unexpected to the point of unsettling. In fact, so unsettling that the religious leaders were determined to murder Jesus.
However, in that, Jesus fulfills His purpose. The innocent Jesus goes to the cross! One innocent man suffers in the place of all of us that deserve to suffer, so that we all will be made free. The price of freedom is blood.
Several years ago, I shared this story about an Indian Chief who was chief during the time when tribes were still wandering the plains. He had the reputation of being a really great leader. In fact, it was said that he was always just, and he was always loving. That was about to be severely tested through in a way that he could have never dreamed. There had been some theft in his tribe, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. So, he actually set a trap with some goods that were left out, and he hoped that those would trap the thief. Well, nobody went for it. He decided too many people were in on the plan, so the next time he told only two braves, and then he put different thief bait out late one night. Then those two braves waited. At dawn they came to the chief’s teepee. One brave entered and said, “We have caught the thief.” The chief said, “Good! I sentence him to 20 lashes with the whip. Bring him in.” And they did to the shock and to the horror of the chief. The hours that followed would never be forgotten by that Indian tribe.
When those braves brought in the thief who had been caught in the act, they brought in the chief’s mother. Well word spread very quickly through the tribe because there was to be a punishment of 20 lashes with the whip. And the people began to say, “Well, now we’ll find out which is greater, his justice or his love.” At noon his mother was tied to a stake in the middle of the encampment. Her garment loosened in the back to expose her back, suddenly there was an order that came from the chief, “Stop!”
The people began to talk to each other and say, “You know, he’s setting aside his justice for his love, isn’t he? His love is greater than his justice.” And that’s when something happened that no one there will ever forget. The chief took off his robe so that his back was exposed. He went to the stake, placed his body between his mother and the whip and gave a two-word order. “The whip!” And that day punishment fell – 20 lashes, not on the one who deserved it, but on the one who loved her enough to take the punishment that she deserved.
This, my friends, is what today is all about! That’s what God and His son Jesus did for you and for me on Good Friday. Just like the chief in our story, Jesus was in control that day; His power was portrayed in part through his control over the events of his death. He exhibited divine knowledge and control over all the events of his passion. When the band of 600 soldiers came to arrest him, Jesus came forward and asked the, “Whom are you looking for?” they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I am He,” Jesus said, Jesus ‘response is literally, “I am,” some commentators consider this statement to be a declaration of His deity.
There must have been divine power present, for they drew back and fell to the ground. Think about it, 600 highly trained Roman soldiers, who came to overpower Jesus with torches, and clubs involuntarily fell to the ground when Jesus said the words, “I am he.”
This display of power indicates Jesus could have easily exercised his power to thwart his arrest, but he chose not to. He was totally in charge; he was in control. Jesus was the one asking the questions.
He turned himself over to them. Then in an act of love, he asked the soldiers to let these men (the eleven disciples) go. Two things are clear Jesus alone was taken; none of the disciples were to be included in his death. Jesus would walk this journey alone. Jesus was protecting his disciples as he had promised them. John says that this fulfilled Jesus’ previous words: “I have not lost one of those that you gave me.” When Simon Peter drew his sword & struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his ear. Under orders from Jesus, Peter put his sword back into its sheath. Jesus had no intention of allowing this to become a scene of death. Jesus had no intention to avoid drinking the cup that His Father had given him. Jesus was determined to do his Father’s will.
As all the Gospel’s attest, there is no question that Jesus would suffer a horrible death this day. Mary suffered, cried, and her heart was broken by grief.
However, Jesus’ Crucifixion and Burial is not a tragedy, but a victory. Even though Jesus was crucified by sinful men; we must keep in mind that ultimately, God was in control here, not man. Jesus knew his destiny; long before he entered Jerusalem that day. His whole life was heading in that direction. The Crucifixion was part of God’s plan not the men who carried it out. No one was aware of this except Jesus. He knew his destiny; he carried his own cross to Calvary. The Jews and the Romans did not take his life from him; he laid it down on his own accord; and it wasn’t just for his friends as we would understand it, his disciples who had followed him, forsaking family, livelihoods, and futures for Him. For Jesus friendship wasn’t so exclusive. Jesus was laying down his life for Judas, for Pilate, for Herod, and the soldiers too. Jesus laid down his life for the world- the whole world caught up in the unending cycle of violence. He laid down his life so that friend and foe could become one.
As he had foretold, no one took his life from him; he had authority to give it up and then retake it in resurrection. From the cross Jesus was exalted, as if it were his throne. (His Coronation)
Good Friday does not deny any of the pain, sorrow or injustice that happened that day. Those things were all real in the crucifixion of Jesus and they are real in our own lives. The cross is real for each of us as well, especially we look at the many crosses of our lives and world, we see sin and brokenness, suffering, sorrow, tears, loss and death.
But what if there is more to see? What if all those things are the veil that Jesus’ death tears down? What if we are to see love there as well?
That is what makes this Friday good. The crucified love of Christ is stronger and more real than death. The crucified love of Jesus does more than join us in our sufferings and dying. It carries us through them. God’s love defeats sin and death. Every time.
Laura and I have a piece of stained glass from an old church depicting the Crucifixion hanging in our living room window. A beautiful piece of art. When I look at that piece of stained glass, I see the God that I believe in. In a world filled with real pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? When I look at that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through His hands and feet, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from the thorn-pricks; I know that He is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears, and death. He suffered for me. My sufferings become more manageable considering the suffering He endured. My God, Jesus made a choice, because of the blood He shed, I walk as a free man.
What do you see when you look at the cross?
Amen