Friday, April 06, 2007
From AscensionNYC
Good Friday
Psalm 22:1-21
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 10:1-25
John 18:1-40,19:1-37
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I hear the voices of our male choristers whenever I read this psalm. You can tell that I have sat through nearly twenty-five years of Good Fridays at Ascension.
Some years I have completely identified with that cry…my Mum's death, my oldest friend in the world Pat's death, times when life has seemed especially harsh. Then the tide turns, and things change again.
An old and very wise man I used to know reminded me that "if you get nothing but sunshine …you get a *!$&!* great desert!" Tears and pain are necessary for our maturity and growth. We need the sun and the rain. Easter weekend certainly gives us both in glorious abandon!
As we read John's Gospel, I am back in the courtyard with Pilate, who asks, in the older version "Am I a Jew?" Somehow "I am not a Jew, am I?" doesn't quite have that sort ofNew York
But the question in any form is valid. How can we understand why this is happening to Jesus? Why doesn't God save him? Pilate again asks a very valid question of Jesus, "What is truth?" What indeed.
But we know the truth.St. Paul
So, as Paul says, "let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who has promised is faithful."
And in two days we find that "My God! My God!" has become "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" From the harsh, cold rain of the Crucifixion, we move on to the glorious sun of the Resurrection.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 10:1-25
John 18:1-40,19:1-37
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I hear the voices of our male choristers whenever I read this psalm. You can tell that I have sat through nearly twenty-five years of Good Fridays at Ascension.
Some years I have completely identified with that cry…my Mum's death, my oldest friend in the world Pat's death, times when life has seemed especially harsh. Then the tide turns, and things change again.
An old and very wise man I used to know reminded me that "if you get nothing but sunshine …you get a *!$&!* great desert!" Tears and pain are necessary for our maturity and growth. We need the sun and the rain. Easter weekend certainly gives us both in glorious abandon!
As we read John's Gospel, I am back in the courtyard with Pilate, who asks, in the older version "Am I a Jew?" Somehow "I am not a Jew, am I?" doesn't quite have that sort of
But the question in any form is valid. How can we understand why this is happening to Jesus? Why doesn't God save him? Pilate again asks a very valid question of Jesus, "What is truth?" What indeed.
But we know the truth.
So, as Paul says, "let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who has promised is faithful."
And in two days we find that "My God! My God!" has become "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" From the harsh, cold rain of the Crucifixion, we move on to the glorious sun of the Resurrection.
Barbara Head
