Good Friday, Yr B. (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Good Friday, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Hebrews 10:16-25
John 18:1-19:42
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifying Spirit. Amen.
Today, Good Friday, we celebrate the death of Jesus.
That word “celebrate” may sound strange in this context,
but for John, Jesus’ death is a celebration because it is a fulfillment of Scripture…
a fulfillment of God’s promises…
a fulfillment of God’s love.
Preacher and theologian Barbara Brown Taylor says:
“There will be nothing prudent or economical about the death of [Jesus],
just as there has been nothing prudent or economical about his life.
“In him, the extravagance of God’s love is made flesh.
In him, the excessiveness of God’s mercy is made manifest.” (Bread of Angels, p. 61)
God is love…
extravagant, excessive love.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who [trusts] in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be [healed] through him.” (Jn 3:16-17)
Jesus emptied himself,
even to the point of death on a cross,
to exemplify radical generosity and abundance.
Jesus shows us that the less we cling to life – and all life’s stuff –
the more we can give our lives for the sake of others.
Cynthia Bourgeault speaks of this “dying to self”
in perhaps a way different from what we usually hear.
She says:
“[Jesus] certainly called us to dying to self, but…
not through inner renunciation or guarding the purity of his being,
but through radically squandering everything he had and was.
“John the Baptist’s disciples were horrified
because [Jesus] banqueted, drank, and danced.
“The Pharisees were horrified
because [Jesus] healed on the Sabbath
and kept company with women and disreputables, people known to be impure….
“What seemed disconcerting to nearly everybody
was the messy, freewheeling largeness of his spirit.
“Abundance and a generosity bordering on extravagant
seemed to be the signatures of both his teaching and his personal style. . . .
“When he feeds the multitudes at the Sea of Galilee,
there is not merely enough to go around;
the leftovers fill twelve baskets [John 6:13].
“When a woman anoints him with expensive ointment
and the disciples grumble about the waste,
[Jesus] affirms,
“Truly, I tell you,
wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (Matthew 26:13)
“[Jesus] seems not to count the cost;
in fact, he specifically forbids counting the cost.
“ ‘Do not store up treasures on earth,’ he teaches;
do not strive or be afraid—
‘for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’” (Luke 12:32)
“All will come of its own accord in good time and with abundant fullness,
so long as one does not attempt to hoard or cling.
“It is a path [Jesus] himself walked to the very end.
“In the garden of Gethsemane, with his betrayers and accusers massing at the gates,
he struggled and anguished
but remained true to his course.
“Do not hoard, do not cling—not even to life itself.
Let it go,
let it be—
‘Not my will but yours be done, O Lord.
“ ‘Into your hands I commend my spirit.’
“Thus he came and thus he went,
Giving himself fully into life… and death,
losing himself,
squandering himself
‘gambling away every gift God bestows.’
“It was not love stored up,
but love utterly poured out,
that opened the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
(Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambala: 2008), 69–70.)
Jesus lays this path before us…
the path of recklessly squandering our gifts and our love.
And we are able to follow because
we have first been loved.
Having received God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness,
let us then go and shower that love upon the world,
not denying life,
but freely giving away all that we are.
This is the way of the cross.
This is the way of love.
