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Sermon April 19, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Good Friday
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyWk/GoodFri_RCL.html
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. John 19:26-27
Please be seated
On Sunday, my Facebook feed was filled with Palm Sunday processions in Episcopal churches throughout the United States. But there was one post that stopped me cold. There had been a fire at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. I have friends who are priests there, so was seeing plenty of photos. Luckily the fire there was contained. The rest of the Sunday morning services and the meal services for people needing food, were moved outside and continued without interruption.
This on the heels of churches with members who are African-American burning in Louisiana. Three had burned already by the end of the week.
Then on Monday, I received an alert on my phone that the Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. I was glued to the TV, watching the roof burn. I was remembering my one visit there in 2007 and scanning the photos and videos I took there. I was moved by the people who gathered and sang hymns. People were grieving for what was happening to this very old sacred space and icon of Paris. People around the world were feeling the loss.
Since last night and throughout today, we have been immersed in grief. We have been immersed in loss and tragedy, because we have been remembering how Jesus was scorned, tried, and killed by the state, with the support of many of the powerful religious leaders of the time.
Yet, standing at the foot of the cross was Mary, Jesus’ mother.
Mary must have known Jesus’ work was going to lead to big trouble for him. She must have tried to stop him, don’t you think? Tell him to cool his message… lay low?? Don’t go get yourself killed, I can imagine her saying. Yet… he does get himself killed. He is there up on that cross right in front of her eyes. Her fierce protective love not able to stop what is happening right in front of her. The soldiers nearby causing her to stifle her screams and cries, because they might arrest her too or even worse, force her to leave her son.
Heavy of heart…. Watching her son die in a violent way…
TODAY is a day of grieving…of crying out in moans of distress…we reach to the depths of our being where come the wails and keening of loss. We stand at the foot of the cross…see the gruesome scene unfold before us…our grief spills out…the sound we make surprises us. What has happened? How will we go on? The light… the love… the joy…of our life is dying…is being tortured…and there is no way to stop it.
Do we run away…hide our eyes from the dreadful sight? Do we take the sobs, moans, and cries and swallow them back to the depths of our being? Do we take that grief, encase it in steel, shut it down and move on?
Today is a hard day… Grieving is hard. Often the first year of grieving a loss is like being in a total fog. Life must change and rearrange. Most of those around us do not want to hear about our grief. They don’t want to be with us as we cry. They get tired of hearing the stories.
And we are afraid too. If we feel the depth of our grief, what might we do? Will we seek revenge? Will we self destruct? Will the tears ever stop? Will we be consumed, immobilized and paralyzed?
But today…Good Friday is the day. The day to stand at the foot of the cross and grieve… grieve those we have loved and whom we see no more…grieve the hopes and dreams we had that we realize are no longer possible…grieve the loss of relationships…grieve for all of the times we live in fear rather than in faith…grieve for the state of our town…of our county…of our nation…of our world…. Grieve for all of the times we have put Jesus up on that cross….
Today is the day to cry out and lament….
AND YET….
Jesus’ words to Mary and John tell us there is something more….
Mary dealt with many challenges in bearing Jesus, raising Jesus, having to let him go… seeing he was headed for an early death. She must have asked God why. What purpose would all this serve?
Could Mary see how her son would transform lives for thousands of years to come? On that day… watching on that hill of Golgotha – outside the City gates…life must have looked so grim…so bleak…so hopeless. Maybe over the years Mary saw peoples’ lives transformed …people who followed her son. Maybe she got a glimpse of what was to come but we really cannot be sure.
And that is true for all of us. Something looks grim…hopeless… We know life in only a short span of time. We never see the rest of the story… see the full story. Standing at the foot of the cross, could Mary have ever imagined that nearly 2000 years later, millions of people all over the world would be remembering this day…remembering her grief… remembering the death of her son? In the span of our lives, we see only in part….
Secondly, Jesus asks us to be in relationship in new ways by telling Mary and John that they are family. Now, the writer of John makes it sound so easy. Jesus pronounces them family and that’s it. John takes Mary into his own home. I wonder.
For instance… Was John all that happy to have another mother? By taking Mary into his own home, John takes on the responsibility of caring for Mary throughout her life. We really don’t know the whole story. Maybe John really did not like Mary. Maybe he found her demanding or annoying or judgmental. Maybe they did not get along at all.
Yet as far as we know, John took on this responsibility. Out of love… out of his relationship with Jesus, John agrees to be responsible for Mary and to treat her as a son would be expected to treat his mother. Honor thy father and thy mother and John agreed to obey that commandment in its broadest sense… with a mother who was not his biological mother.
And how many times have you agreed to do something… change your day… change your attitude… because the person or community you love has asked you to do so?
Ultimately, Jesus continues to remind us about community and our connections to each other that go beyond blood ties.
And today is the day Jesus is physically removed from the community he formed, taught and from those who followed him. Jesus knows there is an impact…has been trying to prepare his followers for the time he will no longer be physically with him. Here is your son…here is your mother…here is your community… stay connected to each other…live my teachings… and my work will continue.
Today in Jerusalem, pilgrims gathered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is more a sprawling complex of various churches. It contains the sites of Golgotha and of Jesus’ tomb.
If you go on a Sunday morning, there is a Roman Catholic service conducted by the Franciscans. Before it ends, the Copts are chanting in preparation for their service. As the Franciscans move their benches and pews, the Greek Orthodox are getting ready for their service. A cacophony of sounds, liturgical language in a variety of tongues greets your ears. This is not a quiet place. In the midst of the various holy sites within this complex is a large candle on the floor…something you might miss. It looks up towards the spot where Jesus was crucified. This is the Stabat Mater – where she stood – the place where Mary stood.
We stand in that place today with Mary…. We grieve. We lament. We are not alone. We are the community of Christ – the church and its members. We continue Jesus’ work and teaching…. We sow the seeds of a different future. Woman, here is your son… son, here is your mother….
Amen
