Good Friday
(3/25/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 18-19

Epistle: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

In the fourteenth verse of the sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians, he writes,

"May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Faith alone justifies us before God. Hope directs our attention to the end. But love perfects. At the end everything must become love. Perfection means love. But the sign of perfection in this world is called 'cross.'

"That is the way perfected love must go and always will go in this world. However, this truth shows us, first of all, that this world is ripe for demolition, overripe. It is only God's indescribable patience that is still waiting to the end. This truth shows us, secondly, that the church in this world remains a church under the cross.

"Woe to the church that already here wants to become a church of visible glory. It has denied its Lord on the cross. Faith, hope, and love all lead to the cross to be perfected.

Let us pray:

Forgive us, crucified Lord, for the times when we ignore your cross or when we are embarrassed by it. Help us to see your cross for what it is--love made perfect. Amen.

In the fifth verse of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, we read,


"But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"The cross is at the center. As I look at the large crucifix, I remember how it came to us. Four years ago a Franciscan priest, Father Pancratius, whom I met in Freiburg while he was dying of cancer, said to me, 'Henri, I want to give you this crucifix before I die.

'I want you to give it a place among your people with disabilities.'

"He told me the story of the crucifix. When many years ago he went to Croatia with a group of young Germans to help restore a church that was destroyed during World War II, they found the crucifix under the rubble.

"The pastor, grateful for the German gesture of reconciliation, gave it to Father Pancratius. There were no crossbeams, just the wood-carved body...

"Good Friday is much more than reliving the passion of Jesus; it is entering into solidarity with the passion of all people of our planet, whether in the past, the present, or the future. In Jesus all human suffering is collected.

"The broken heart of Jesus is the broken heart of God. The broken heart of God is the broken heart of the world."

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, on this day of sorrow, we will unite our sufferings with yours. We will set aside ten minutes to reflect on the meaning of your death for us...and give thanks for the freeing power that has come into our lives because of your sacrifice. Amen.