“GOOD FRIDAY”
Saint John’s Passion Narrative
Good Friday: 7 April Anno Domini 2023
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
What a Good Day and Night—a Good Friday!
This is not a funeral service. Nobody here is dead. The Lord IS here—and He is not dead.
Nonetheless, this is not a Mass of pure jubilation and mere celebratory lightness. This is a night of weighty seriousness, deep reverence, somber rubrics, and respectful behavior. This is a night when we can, and should, weep and lament—not for Jesus, but for ourselves. We are penitent sinners. Our trespasses are the reason That God went to Calvary. Our sinful natures are the reason that The Precious Lamb was butchered and bathed in His own Holy Blood.
Christ is God—God of God. Christ is Man—perfect and sinless man, the Second and Final Perfect Adam/Man.
The first man fell and chose death. Jesus would not countenance that. Jesus came to bring Adam and his sinfully dead children back from the dead. He is The Good Shepherd who came to find the lost sheep, the lost wounded—dead lamb. He is The Good Physician Who doesn’t just heal sickness but resurrects dead humans/dead children/a dead race!
So, Christ obeys all The Law as Adam should have. As you should, but do not.
The common question that is sometimes asked: “is The Crucifix Law or Gospel?” is answered yes. In Christ all questions, problems, and care for His called people are Yes—Yes in The Crucified One. The Lamb nailed to the tree is Law because it was your sin that had to be crucified—you had to be crucified. The Law demands justice and that perfect justice is the judgment of guilt and the penalty of death. Weep some more for your sins today, yesterday, and tomorrow. The bleeding, suffering, and dying Nazarene, Mary’s Precious Son, The Father’s only-begotten, hanging in torment—is the purest Gospel ever! There is God’s Glory in the exaltation of The Son, Lifted High on His bloody throne to atone for the sins of the world—because of Love; sacrificial love. Weep not for Jesus Who’s everlasting joy was to do the will of The Father; weep for joy that Love in action, stretched out and pierced, willingly died in your place. How Good; How Good!
A very famous and kind Lutheran theologian of the 20th century once went to a Christian funeral, not as the pastor but as a member and friend of the parish. After the Funeral Mass had ended, he too accompanied the Family, Funeral Party, and numerous other parishioners to the Church Graveyard. This was a large cemetery with hundreds and hundreds of crosses, crucifixes, and other church symbols decorating all the headstones and obelisks. A woman, a close friend of the grieving family, turned to this dear Professor with tears in her eyes and said: “what a sad, sad place this is; all these graves.” The old churchman with almost an angelic half-smile on his countenance replied gently: “oh now, Emiline, yes, for the moment, but. These tombstones and grave markers, and buried bodies and bones are lilies just momentarily waiting to burst from the ground. When we survey all the death, all the tears that have been shed over the years and centuries for these Saints, and all the worlds faithful who have left this mortal coil of pain, and think upon our Dear Lord Who suffered and bore ALL that sin and darkness and despair and death…yet Rose again on Easter as the first fruits of all those Who die IN HIM; well, we can then remember with interior faith and joy, that that Friday was Good, so Good, indeed.”
INJ
INJ
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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