Readings:

 

Sermon:

On Good Friday our focus is on what Jesus did for us on the cross. But there is even more to this day than Jesus’ death on a cross. Because we know he defeated death. He transformed the image of a cross from one of unspeakable cruelty, agony, and injustice, to a symbol of victory.

Jesus had set his divinity aside, and by doing that, he experienced the joys and the struggles that you and I experience.

The love for the innocence of children

The struggle to have patience with his disciples

Being pulled in lots of different directions, but staying to his mission.

Crying at the death of his friend Lazarus.

Enjoying the close friendship of John, Mary, Lazarus, and others.

He also knew betrayal, denial, physical suffering, and death.

I’ve been asked a few times in my ministry a question about the Trinity: who should we pray to… Who do YOU pray to??

God the Father – holds the power of creation. I go to the Father when I have humble requests to the power from whom everything comes; or to give suggestions.

God the Spirit – When I feel like the father of the sick child, described in Matthew:  23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

God the Son experienced all we have experienced, or could ever experience. He knows our anxiety over the Coronavirus; our prayers for the people treating patients, for those desperately searching for a cure. Jesus understands our needs, better than we know them.

I pray that as we honor the cross of Jesus, the work he did there, and the understanding of our human nature that now rests with God, that we find strength in that truth, and have confidence in God’s power to care for us.