Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 10:16-25 or
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
Psalm 22
Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying
Good Friday. Naked, exposed,
vulnerable.
We have entered a church that has been laid bare. Gone are the customary hangings and ornaments that adorn, beautify, even obscure. As we gather tonight we are stripped of customary labels—Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian—with which we clothe ourselves.
We encounter a God who in Christ is laid bare and vulnerable. Naked between thieves, he is mocked, rejected, despised, by some he is admired, perhaps by others he is even loved, but stripped, vulnerable, hands and feet nailed to the cross, a wound in his side, the crown of thorns tearing at his head.
Before the God unto whom all hearts are open and from whom no secrets are hid we too are exposed and vulnerable.
Our guilt, our shame, our sorrow, the pride that infects our hearts and sours our relationships, the feelings of superiority and the humiliations perhaps too many to name, too overwhelming to share. The whole of our sin that spills from our tongues, slips from our hands, lodges in our hearts.
This good Friday, we are naked, exposed, vulnerable before a holy God . . .
Before the very one who alone has power to do anything about our plight.
Through his body broken for us, his blood shed for us, his life given for us . . .
for God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5.19) . . .
not that we love God but that he loves us and sends his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4.10) . . .
For if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1.8-9) . . .
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2.1-2) . . .
A church naked, exposed, vulnerable.
God naked, exposed, vulnerable.
We ourselves naked, exposed, vulnerable.
Father, forgive.
It is complete.
Today you will be with me in paradise.
A Good Friday indeed.