Category: Good Friday Homily

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Good Friday Homily

The prophet Isaiah is one of those prophets of doom standing in the big cities with “The End is Near” signs. “Doom is coming!” “Doom is coming!” The kind of prophet parents pass by with their children and say: “Children, pay no attention to the funny man!”

Isaiah is the woest prophet of all.

Isaiah says: Woe to the sinful nation. Woe to the drunks. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to the proud who are wise in their own eyes. Woe to Congressmen who pass unjust laws and to judges who defend them. Woe to those who try to hide their plans from God. Woe to rebellious children. It’s Isaiah’s way of speech. Over twenty times he announces doom, destruction, punishment, sorrow and pain.[1]

Then, as if something from heaven falls on the head of the prophet, he changes the key to his tune. His minor chords become titanic major chords of wild celebration. But don’t worry: the prophet is not changing his mind. It’s just that he sees something new in the future. He is so lucid, that he plays with his words. While many of Isaiah’s lines begin with “Woe” which is the Hebrew Oi, his first line in Isaiah 55 starts with Come, which is from the same Hebrew root pronounced Hoi. In Church History, we learn that a letter can make a difference in how we understand Jesus, in the Bible, a letter can make a difference between doom and delight; war and wine; hell and hospitality.

And just two short chapters after the most detailed picture of Jesus found in Isaiah 53, the prophet turns his attention to the compassion of this suffering servant who does not offer woe to his people, but an invitation to taste of bread and wine, water and milk. By the way, do not insult the host by attempting to pay him for his generosity. Don’t bring money! At the Lord’s Table, there is only laughter, rich food, and everlasting friendship.

If any of you here have never tasted of God’s invitation to this table, if you are here out of curiosity over this crucifixion business Christians talk about, well, here it is: the cross is an invitation to come and taste the goodness of God.

And before we begin to take too much pride in our free meal, remember what it cost our Lord of glory. Yes, he gives us bread, but remember his body was broken; yes, he gives us wine, but remember his blood was poured; yes, he gives us water, but remember that when the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, at once there came out blood and water; yes, he gives us milk and every good thing, but remember he abandoned his riches in glory to dress himself in human flesh to live a perfect life and to be hung on a torture-saturated cross.

Yes, our woes have turned into an invitation to a glorious feast because the woes of the Prophet have been poured on the Person of Christ and now, we shall live forever in the house of the Lord.

Come! Come! Come! The fast is ending. The invitations have been sent! On Sunday, we celebrate the ends of all our woes!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

[1] Peter Leithart homily.

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Good Friday Homily: The Politics of Good Friday

Homily: People of God, the story of Good Friday is that it was by a tree that Adam fell in the garden and by a tree Adam is restored.[1]

We see this restoration unfolding for us in the Gospel of St. John. In the narrative, Pilate represents the evil empire that conspires against the Lord’s anointed (Ps. 2), but he does not collude in isolation; he conspires with the Jews of the day. These are two manifestations of politics in the Passion Week: the Romans with their propensity to elevate kings to the status of gods and the First-Century Jews with their propensity to elevate Maccabean characters as messianic figures. Both groups with their distinct ideologies share the same contempt for Jesus. The Romans despise Him because He is a threat to the peace of the empire; the Jews hate Him because He equates Himself to Yahweh. There is a back and forth dilemma facing the political powers of this world. “What do we do with this man?” “Do we crucify him; do we let Him go; will He anger Caesar; will He draw to Himself members of our political party?”[2] Throughout the Gospels we often hear of the confusion and uncertainty about the nature of Jesus. But by this point, the leaders of the day have realized that Jesus is no ordinary man; that He is not just claiming to be the Messiah, but also a kingly substitute to the current selection. After this realization, their tone changes quite drastically. Their plans of execution and murder suddenly become quite concrete.  This is the politics of Good Friday:

“The Word of God, who was with God and was God, the Only-Begotten Son, takes flesh and dwells among us, and in response, the most sophisticated religious leaders of the ancient world join forces with the most powerful political leaders of the ancient world to murder Him. God enters His creation, and His creatures concentrate all their ingenuity, passion, piety, and power to destroy Him. “Now is the judgment of this world,” Jesus had said. While the world thinks it is passing judgment on Jesus, it is really judging itself.” [3]

What is distinctive about the politics of Good Friday is not that Jesus despises power; after all, He will receive all power and authority in heaven and earth[4] from the Father, rather the uniqueness of Good Friday is that power comes through death, and the declaration of His kingship does not appear in the splendor of a Roman coronation, but in the horror of a tree.

When Pilate handed over Jesus to the Jews and mockingly stated: “Behold your King!” little did he know that the destruction of his own kingdom now was certain, and the genesis and emergence of an everlasting kingdom was already taking place.

Unlike Adam, Jesus did not fail to crush the Serpent.[5] On a tree, Adam fell, but through a tree, a New Adam and a New Humanity is resurrected.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Inspired by Peter Leithart.

[2] See the Pharisees’ declaration in John 12:19.

[3] “Peter J. Leithart ” Blog Archive ” Good Friday Homily.” Leithart.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011 <http://www.leithart.com/2008/03/21/good-friday-homily-3/>.

[4] Matthew 28:18-20.

[5] Romans 16:20

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Leithart’s Homily on the Cross

I have read this homily probably ten times during the Lenten Season. It is, in my estimation, one of the greatest Good Friday homilies ever written.

The cross is the wood on the altar of the world on which is laid the sacrifice to end all sacrifice. The cross is the wood on which Jesus burns in His love for His Father and for His people, the fuel of His ascent in smoke as a sweet-smelling savor. The cross is the wood on the back of Isaac, climbing Moriah with his father Abraham, who believes that the Lord will provide. The cross is the cedar wood burned with scarlet string and hyssop for the water of purification that cleanses from the defilement of death.

Read the entire homily

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From the Past: Betrayal in the Garden

Here is a re-posting of my Good Friday homily last year.

Betrayal in the Garden

Homily: People of God, there is a venomous snake in the garden. While the great Messiah and his disciples enter the garden, a certain snake-like-figure named Judas knows precisely where the faithful are. He enters the garden knowing that this was a place of constant fellowship and peace. But Judas is not a man of peace and his fellowship with the Messiah has been broken. He is now a man at war and his loyalty is with the darkness. Continue reading “From the Past: Betrayal in the Garden”

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It is Finished!

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.

But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. Continue reading “It is Finished!”

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Good Friday Homily: Betrayal in the Garden

Betrayal in the Garden

Homily: People of God, there is a venomous snake in the garden. While the great Messiah and his disciples enter the garden, a certain snake-like-figure named Judas knows precisely where the faithful are. He enters the garden knowing that this was a place of constant fellowship and peace. But Judas is not a man of peace and his fellowship with the Messiah has been broken. He is now a man at war and his loyalty is with the darkness.

In the Garden of Eden, the Great Serpent entered the garden to bring about chaos; to tempt the first Adam. Indeed he was successful. The first Adam failed in his loyalty to Yahweh, being deceived by the serpent in the Garden, and thus, thrusting all mankind into a state of sin and misery. Now in John 18, the New Serpent enters the garden. He is possessed by the same devil that possessed the Serpent in Genesis. It is this precise battle that is unfolding before us in this text. The question is: Who owns the garden?

Does Judas with his new found commitment to darkness and evil own the garden or does Jesus own the garden? As the text reveals to us we see that Judas, the son of perdition, seems to have the upper hand in this sacred dispute. According to verse 12, Jesus is arrested and bound. They take him out of the garden bound like a defeated enemy. Now, in every conceivable scenario, this would be the historical determination that Jesus has lost. But if the Messiah is to bring this unshakable and unmovable kingdom with His coming, then how does this binding, this apparent defeat in the garden connect with this glorious kingdom? The answer to this question is: paradoxically. The coming of the kingdom is paradoxical. The kingdom does not come in the way and in the expression that many expected. Now if the kingdom of God comes paradoxically, in a way unknown to the first century, then there may be a different way of understanding this garden scene. In this text, Jesus is not being bound because of defeat; he is being bound because of victory. Jesus’ arrest is his release. His arrest is not his binding, it may appear to be, but it is ultimately the binding of the evil one, the father of lies, Satan himself. This is why the gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus is the One who bound the strong man. He is the One who arrested the Serpent and dragged him out of the garden. Jesus owns the garden, not Judas or His master, Satan.

This arrest and this binding of Jesus in the garden is not a plan gone awry, it is exactly what has been planned. In one sense this arrest is the cosmic Trinitarian conspiracy against the kingdoms of this world. When evil leaders and governments think they have the Son of Man trapped, He fools them. As Psalm 2 says, “God laughs at their plans.” The conspiracy of the cross is that the cross is Christ’s sword to defeat evil. But the serpent does not know this. He is virtually blinded to the Messianic plan and nothing will stop Jesus from conquering evil and bringing in a new world, a new creation. The Garden belongs to Him, because the garden is where His people gather, and eat, and fellowship. The garden is the sacred space, the place of peace. Make no mistake, we are a warring people, but we war against the enemies of Messiah. In the garden, the King, Master, and Messiah says: the gates of hell, Satan Himself, adversaries of the kingdom shall not prevail. Death dies once and for all and victory will come and we will celebrate it this Sunday. Today, though we fast, it is only a prelude to our coming feast. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.

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Good Friday Homily; Mockery and Denial: The Sufferings of Christ

Homily for Good Friday on John 18

Pastor Uri Brito

People of God, the gospel of St. John is a story of betrayal, mockery and innocence. This is made clear as we analyze the events preceding the death of our Messiah. In chapter 18, Judas betrays our Lord with a kiss. Psalm 2 says to” kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. ”  But the prophetic tone of the Psalter is one of submission. We are to kiss the Son out of submission. Judas kisses the Son out of rebellion. Instead of appeasing the Lord’s anger, Judas now takes the first step in bringing the judgment of God upon this world through God’s crucified Son. The cross condemns unbelief and it saves those in the light.  Our lives are to be lived in utter submission to our crucified Lord and we kiss the Son not in betrayal, but in utter submission to our King.

In John 18, there is yet another denial. It is the well-known denial of Peter. Peter denies our Lord three times. The Jews in chapter 19 also deny the Lord three times. And finally, if we consider the gospel of St. Mark chapter 15, we see that there is a three-fold mockery of our Lord at the cross. This three-fold mockery and denial reveal the fullness of the sufferings of our Lord. Now the religious leaders of the day deny our Lord because they are in utter rebellion with the true God of Israel.  Peter denies our Lord because the sufferings accompanied with following Messiah are too much for him to bear. If our great King is to bear the cross, then the people of the King are to bear that cross as well. Peter understood that truth and it was too much for him to bear. We know that this denial of Peter was not what characterized his life; rather Peter’s life was ultimately an example of true crucifixion as he bore the cross of Christ until his martyrdom. Peter’s life in many ways is the life of the church. Peter’s life is the life of infant Christianity. But Christianity cannot live in infancy. It must carry its cross until the end. It must press on to maturity. Brothers and sisters, this is also a reflection of our lives. We too have denied our Lord, if not in word, certainly in deed. We have at times taken the easier route, rather than the crucified route. We have looked out for our own interests, rather than the interest of others. We have loved ourselves; we have served ourselves first, rather than serving our families. We have preferred the bounty of this world’s goods first, rather than the simple bread of life. Our crucified Lord tells us to live as I have lived and then you will be raised as I will be raised. Continue reading “Good Friday Homily; Mockery and Denial: The Sufferings of Christ”