Good Friday Thoughts
AM Psalm 95 for the Invitatory, 22 • PM Psalm 40:1-14 (15-19), 54
Lam. 3:1-9, 19-33 • 1 Pet. 1:10-20 • John 13:36-38 [AM] • John 19:38-42 [PM]
We read this morning in John 13:36-38: “ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.’” In addition to John’s version of this interaction between Jesus and Peter, Matthew 26:33-35, Mark 14:29-30, and Luke 22:33-34 also recount it. I love it when all four Gospel authors give an account of the same event; it provides an opportunity to compare and contrast them. Though there are differences in the four accounts, in all four Jesus was right, Peter denied him three times. He shamefully recalled Jesus’ words when he heard that cock crow. I would imagine that at the time that Jesus predicted Peter’s denial, that Peter did not believe it. He, like most all of us, don’t want to believe the reality of our weaknesses, and the sheer power that fear can have over us.
Our evening reading in John 19:38-42 is about Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, who obtained Jesus’ body in order to give him a proper Jewish burial. He was a brave man to have approached Pilate with such a request; an act that could have had far-reaching adverse consequences for him. Pilate, perhaps acting out of compassion (at the very least, a sense of decency?), granted him permission. Nicodemus, also a member of the Sanhedrin, helped Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body, prepare it for burial, and lay it in the tomb. John says that Nicodemus supplied one hundred pounds of aloes and myrrh. One hundred pounds!? Normal Jewish burials called for five pounds (an amount that looks like a five-pound bag of flour). An extravagant amount, such as seventy-five pounds, was sometimes used for the burial of royalty. Was John just using an exaggeration to make a point? [You can read the differing accounts of Joseph of Arimathea obtaining Jesus’ body in Matthew 27:57-60, Mark 15:43-46, and Luke 23:50-56 but only John mentions Nicodemus and one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes.] Two prominent Jewish men made sure that Jesus was buried according to Jewish law. Two righteous Pharisees, who had much to lose in this bold act of reverence, showed up and gave Jesus an extravagantly proper Jewish burial. I believe they knew in their hearts that he was the Messiah.
On this Good Friday, as we commemorate the suffering and death by crucifixion of Jesus, the Messiah, and look with hope towards Easter, Lamentations 3:23-24 expresses beautifully my feelings:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘Therefore I will hope in him.’”
Written by Deborah Griffin
...who is so happy to be back in church for Easter, and looking forward to hearing the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah.