Will I See You Again? (2022-04-15, Good Friday)

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2022-04-15 –  Good Friday ● + John 18:1-19:42     ●  

Title:  Will I See You Again? (Good Friday)

[_01_] During our prayers and biblical readings of Holy Week, many events take place at unusual hours, unusual times. We see each other again – here at 3 pm on Friday, the middle of the afternoon.

          But, there are also important events that happen in the middle of the night. We will see each other again at 7:30 pm at Easter Vigil tomorrow.

[_02_]  Many years ago, I had to wonder – at least for a little while -- if I would see my friends ever again.

I was traveling with some friends – backpacking and trying to travel “economy class” by taking trains in France and Italy.  One time , we were on the railroad somewhere in France or Italy. The train journey was several hours long and we were not in comfortable seats.  And this was one of the rare instances when the train stopped at a station. I guess I was hungry or thirsty or something. And I wanted to exit the train, stand up and walk around for a while.

I exited the train, went down to the platform, walked into the train station for about 10 minutes and realized, wow, this is a pretty big railroad station, pretty big train station. And there were several trains and tracks beside my own.

I can recall the panic that my own train was not clear to me. They all looked the same. Would I be able to retrace my steps to find the train that I was on?   Yes, I would be able toto..but it took a few minutes, of un certainty of which platform I had to go to.

I had my passport and wallet and my wits about me. But what good was all that? What good was my identity if I was disconnected from all my possessions – my bag, clothes, etc. and my traveling companions. I was disconnected from the journey from I was supposed to be on. 

I'm sure I didn't look all that. well or good at that moment. It was the middle of the night, so my appearance had changed. My surroundings had changed. Or at least something had changed and become unfamiliar to me.

I was traveling with two friends. I wondered when or if I would see them again. I did in fact see them again. I did in fact, recover my way retrace my steps because the train had a sign on it that eventually I found.

But those 10 minutes of uncertainty seemed much longer.

[_03_] This is my example my sketch and personal example to give you a profile of Peter the Apostle.

 Peter the apostle, who was also alone in the dark after denying Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice. Peter is far from home.. Peter was not as the children's book, say a “city mouse”, but Peters was in the big urban center of Jerusalem just then. 

Peter was a country mouse from Galilee. Jerusalem is the urban big city. Peter feels out of place and is even identified by others as out of place by his pronunciation of words, his “acccent”, by how he speaks.

Peter is out of place and even moreso after denying Jesus three times.  He also had to wonder – will I see Jesus again? How could that be?

 

[_04_]  This feeling of “moral spiritual distance”  that is more than just superficial 6-feet of “social distance” was  part of the Isaiah the prophets prediction in our reading today. This is known as the 4^th song of the suffering servant, a prophecy of Jesus on Good Friday who appears to be out of place.   Jesus has been arrested, thrown in jail. He is hard to recognize and easy to reject.

We read in Isaiah: “Behold, see my servant, He shall prosper he shall be greatly exalted.” (Isaiah 52-53___)  

And for you and me who are familiar not only with the Gospel ,we know the DESTINATION on this journey is “glory to God in the highest”  But on Good Friday, this seems hard to fathom hard to understand.

Isaiah: “even as many were amazed at his appearance, so marred was his look beyond human semblance. So shall he startle many nations”  (Isaiah 52-53 __)

Who are the many nations that will be startled by Jesus? That doesn't simply mean Jesus is startling the United Nations or people in another country.   Jesus’ appearance and sacrifice are startling to you and to me from every nation.

 

We are called to be more than startled spectators. We adore adore the cross, we look to the cross, we bow to the cross we accept the cross explicitly in our lives.

Part of our identity as Christians is to pray for the strength to forgive others. And to relegate to the past, the harm done to us letting go of anger and resentment can itself be a bit scary.

Sometimes anger is like a navigation system that helps us to know what to do, because I'm angry, I know what to do. Because I'm angry. I have knowledge of what another person has done to me. If I let go of my anger, will I lose my ability to navigate? Will I lose my identity? Will I be out there in the dark?

What we read however, in the Letter to the Ephesians is the importance of letting go of anger. Not just for all time, because it's hard to imagine I'll never be angry again, but simply to let go of anger each day, each day each night. The old saying is … “do not go to sleep / bed angry”

This is in the New Testament. St. Paul writes, If you're angry, let it be without sin. The sun must not go down on your wrath. Wrath means anger. The sun must not go down on your wrath. Do not give the devil a chance to work on you. 

We know that anger can affect

us "subconsciously" ...even when we are asleep!

 

When we are angry when we were upset when we were anxious, we may feel or be inclined to think there is no God or God is absent. That's the conclusion.

But what about those who are really immersed in terrible realities and tragedies? What about the NYPD police or New Yorkers who were on the were in harm's way on the Brooklyn subway platform earlier this week? Did not many of them make sacrificial acts? What about the soldier or relief worker or helper in Ukraine who puts himself or herself in harm's way? It's no accident. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote that those who have been most condemned to suffering, those people who have been most battered and most wretched, also have often become the people of God's revelation, and make God visible to the world. We see God visible in times of tragedy by those who reach out even when everything else is marred and broken in appearance.  (Josef Ratzinger, Dogma & Preaching (1973), “Ch. 26 Good Friday”, p 289, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001)

Good Friday is a day when the score is settled, and a new identity even after the three times denial of identity is possible. Peter is offered away home away out of the dark. You are offered a way home. I am offered a way home, paid in full by Christ's cross. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. It is our hope to Him again.  [_fin_]