Friday, April 21, 2017
Good Friday - April 14, 2017
SERMON
FOR GOOD FRIDAY
April 14, 2017
HOLY TRINITY & ST. ANSKAR
And if I be lifted up,
I will draw everyone to myself.
+ In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity
Reconciliation means the restoration of a broken relationship.
When we speak of humanity reconciled to God by the Death of His Son, we
conventionally think the sacrifice of Christ has somehow changed God’s attitude
towards us, as though God needed to be appeased. But maybe it’s the other way
around: the awful death of Christ changes our attitude toward God, the Cross appeases
US!
We all suffer. We want
to know why. Especially we want to know why the innocent suffer. It isn’t fair.
A good God would not permit that. So, we are tempted to blame God, as Adam did,
or to conclude that the whole idea of a good God is a deception. In other
words, one way or another we separate ourselves from God.
The Cross rescues us from this
brink of death, because it shows that
whatever we suffer God suffers — and more. It does not answer our question as
to why it must be so; but it
reconciles us to God by showing us that there is no limit to God’s love and
mercy.
The Cross does not change God’s
attitude towards us; it changes our attitude toward God. Thus does the Cross of the Son
reconcile us to God. Whatever forgiveness we need, God has given before we were
even born, before the creation of the world. God’s Mercy Is infinite and
invincible from all eternity. The Father
of Infinite Love does not require the horrible death of the Only-begotten Son
to pay for our sin. What Almighty God cannot do is to compel our love. Love that is compulsory is not love at all. The
Prodigal Son’s father cannot force his elder brother to rejoice at the welcome
banquet. What will change the brother’s mind? What will overcome his
self-imposed separation, that is to say his sin? What will reconcile him to his
brother and his father?
God’s answer is the Cross. When we
speak of sin washed away by the Blood of Christ — of the Lamb of God, Who takes
away the sin of the world — we can think of this Redemption as the conquest of
our own resentful, self-imposed separation. When we look at the Cross we can no
longer blame God for our suffering. God suffers with us. The Creator suffers
all the consequences of creation. God suffers everything that we do, including separation
from God, which is to say GOD DIES.
All the teachings of wisdom and all
the miracles of healing and exorcism might not be enough to overcome our
separation. But this public suffering will do it.
And if I be lifted, I will draw everyone to myself.
We worship your Cross, O Christ,
and we praise and glorify
your
holy Resurrection,
for the wood of the cross has
brought joy to the world.
