| Who is to blame? Isn't that
one of the things we want to do when it comes to Good Friday? We
want to be able to assign guilt and responsibility. As recently
as two weeks ago when the mother and husband of a Chicago judge
were murdered many were prepared to cast blame on Matt Hale and
his followers who practice a mantra of hatred. It turned out to
be someone else. Some people were upset that Matt Hale could no
longer be blamed. Of course the murders were not justified and
in the end the one doing the killing took his own life.
It isn't that simple with the Good Friday killing. We
don't know whom to blame. Jesus had not provided any real
justification for the event. He merely loved people, helped them
and told them the truth. Still, we have to find someone to be
responsible. The Jewish people make an easy target and they have
paid the price over the two thousand years since that day, although,
none of those who have paid the price were even born at the time
let alone present at the trial and crucifixion.
We could blame the Roman authorities particularly Pilate. Indeed
he was the one who ultimately passed the sentence but he had
wanted to release Jesus. He admitted he could find nothing wrong
with him. He washed his hands of it. Jesus had even told Pilate
he really didn't have any power over Him.
The crowds could be blamed. In a way it is saying all of society
had a hand in it but that comes too close to us even two thousand
years later. It is easier to single out the soldiers who whipped
Him and nailed Him to a cross which they then stuck in the ground,
leaving Him to die from asphyxiation hastened by loss of blood,
dehydration and extreme physical pain which causes hypovolemic
shock. Yet the soldiers were merely following orders. They didn't
pass the sentence; they simply carried it out.
We could blame God if blaming is something we must do to somehow
justify the sacrifice of someone so innocent. Yes, that seems
to be the solution. We will blame God. Jesus had asked for the
sentence to be lifted, for the cup to pass; but in the end He
had to drink it. Yet death goes against everything for which
God stands. God is life; God is the creator and sustainer of
life. God is the ultimate healer.
At this year's men's Lenten Prayer Breakfast race
car driver, Ernie Irvan, told those in attendance that the late
great racecar driver, Dale Earnhart, told Ernie at the beginning
of his career, "If you want to win the race you first have
to finish it." In I Corinthians 9:24, the apostle Paul
writes, "Do you not know that in a race the runners all
compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that
you may win it."
The race began when God first created. It continued when God
determined the only way to pay the debt of human disobedience
was by having God pay the debt. Thousands of years earlier another
parent had been asked to prove his faithfulness by sacrificing
his only son. Abraham prepared to kill Isaac but God provided
another sacrifice in the form of a ram.
Now God was faced with killing us as atonement for our sins,
as payment for our debt. Instead the Lamb of God was chosen in
our place. Jesus knew the potential cost of His ministry. He
had the freedom to choose to act differently but He chose the
path of obedience even when it meant His own death on the cross.
He chose to be true to Himself for His love and truth left Him
with no other choice. This was His way of finishing the race.
Later God recognized His accomplishments.
What about us? What do we need to finish? Death is sometimes
seen as a blessing when it ends pain; it also seems at times
to be the cause of pain that seems to never end. In some ways
death seems to be something that is necessary in order for us
to be completed, in order for us to be released from that which
keeps us incomplete.
Isn't it normally the case that when we complete or finish
something we can then look forward to something that is new?
Even when there is tremendous loss and sadness at an ending,
there is almost always the possibility of something new.
I am not convinced that anybody really took the life of Jesus
so much as I believe Jesus chose to offer it out of love for
God and for each of us. I am still greatly saddened by the fact
that God ever had to be placed in that situation where a choice
was necessary. However, I believe that Love made that choice
prior to creation.
The death each of us must face comes from choosing whether or
not we are willing to make a similar choice. We need to understand
what it means to finish the race if want to win it. In this case
we must choose to die unto ourselves in order that we might be
made ready to receive that victory which comes from finishing
the race. Remember the Apostle Paul's words, "Run
the race so that you may win it." (I Corinthians 9:24b)
If we wish to win the race are we willing to finish it even
if it means dying for it? Jesus was. Because of that we can call
this day Good Friday.
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