Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42
Good Friday Reflection by Rev. Jerry Eve
“Let us not give up the habit of meeting together . . . Instead, let us encourage one another all the more” (Hebrews 10:25)
Friends, it’s a marathon for us today, all these readings, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t manage them all. The Gospel is two whole chapters – over 80 verses – and the Old Testament reading is the last, and longest by far, of the four so-called Servant Songs in Isaiah. There’s a choice of readings when it comes to the epistle, and the psalm – contrary to the adjacent Psalm 23 – is lengthy, and off-putting right from the start with its,
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
So, do what you can. The reason we have so much text on Good Friday, though, is because so much happened; it’s such a pivotal moment. If Easter Sunday provides for us a doorway into heaven (Hebrews 1020 :He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body.”), then the events of Good Friday are the hinges upon which it hangs.
Our passage from Isaiah must be one of, if not the, most quoted of all Old Testament passages by New Testament authors. Bits of it pop up in all four gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Peter and Revelation i.e. from beginning to end. Almost universally regarded by Christian theologians as prophetic of Christ (John Wesley, for example, wrote that it was "so evident" that "it is Christ who is here spoken of"), it has been the source of various theories of what we call the atonement i.e. the means by which we are put right with God.
Given names such as ’ransom’ theory, ‘Christus Victor’ theory, ‘recapitulation’ theory, ‘satisfaction’ theory, and penal substitution’ theory, one I find myself drawn to is ‘moral influence’ theory. This was first proposed by the French theologian, Peter Abelard (c. 1079 – 1142), who understood that what Jesus had done was to provide an ‘example’ for us to follow. He claimed that Jesus died as “a demonstration of God's love which can then change the hearts and minds of sinners, turning them back to God.”
You’ll have recognised the opening words of Psalm 22 as one of Jesus’ ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’, and the most common interpretation is not to think of this as a cry of despair at all, but as a prayer instead as, having begun to recite the psalm audibly he then continues to do so inaudibly until he reaches its conclusion which can then be a comfort to him with its words,
“People not yet born will be told: ‘The Lord saved his people.’”
And all because of what Jesus did!
Let us pray:
God,
Hebrews 10:25 counsels us to meet together, and to thereby encourage each other. Which is ironic given the current circumstances that prevail, and yet there are ways and means by which we are able to do this. And so we give you thanks for the technology that helps us to communicate with one another from the safety of our own homes, helping us to keep in touch, and to care for one another. We do look forward to that day, though, when we can all meet up in person once again,
Amen.
