St. Paul’s United Church Good Friday, April 6, 2007

Christ’s Rescue Mission – Rev. David Mundy

Isaiah 53:1-7 John 19:16-37

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A week ago a Toronto man received an award for his heroic effort in a subway station some time ago. While waiting for his train, Osman Hersi, only seventeen at the time, watched in horror as a blind man tumbled off the edge of the platform and onto the tracks. While others looked on, he jumped down beside the man, careful to avoid the electrified rail which is the power source for the trains but deadly for anyone who might touch it. Hersi guided the man back to the edge of the platform where others pulled them to safety.

Strangely, this was the second incident like this in a year. In New York City a construction worker name Wesley Autrey was waiting for a subway train with his two young daughters when a man had a seizure and fell onto the tracks. Autrey immediately went to the man, who was in the throes of his attack. His quick-witted response was to push the man down between the rails and lay on top of him, hoping that the incoming train would have enough clearance to pass over them. "I saw the two white lights and said 'Whoa, you ain't got no time.' I just grabbed him," Autrey told reporters. "I just dove on top of him and held him down because I knew there would be enough clearance for us." Of course he couldn’t have known that for certain. Transit officials estimated the pair had two inches to spare but some of the witnesses said there was grease on the back of Autrey’s jacket, which indicated just how close the train came. Can you imagine what it was like for the onlookers in that New York subway incident, as the train rolled over the top of the two men? They were probably horrified, until the two were extricated from what must have appeared to be certain death.

I don’t know what it’s like for you but when I hear stories such as these I am filled with admiration for the heroes. In both these instances the rescuers tried to down-played what they had done, suggesting that they acted instinctively and that others would have done the same. It is a fine sentiment, but simply may not be true. Many of us would be reluctant to put ourselves in harm’s way, even though we respect and honour those who are willing to do so. Actually, when I come upon these stories my reaction isn’t so much in my head as in my solar plexus – my gut. I’m not sure that we would immediately describe these as loving acts, but that’s what they are, if compassion for a stranger can be called love.

Who do we love? Who would we die for? Most of us would claim to be willing to die for our loved ones and it is probably true. How far would the circle extend? Would we willing to save a total stranger at the risk of our own lives, even stepping away from those we know we love for the sake of another?

We are here this morning because of an event of history and faith which hits us in the same place and can move us deeply. “Love so amazing, so divine” is the way one of our hymns for this season speaks of Jesus death on the cross. This is Sorrowful Friday in some countries, Great Friday in others. The strange name which we use --Good Friday – probably comes from the old English, which is God’s Friday. For Christians this is both Terrible Friday and Good Friday because of the implications of this death.

This is the darkest day in Christianity and as we worship and ponder we reach back into our Jewish heritage to hear the words of a prophet who lived centuries before Jesus yet offered words which touch us, even though they were obviously not about him when they were written:

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 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.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Today we also listen to the powerful story of Jesus death on the cross with the reminder that he did not try to escape this particularly cruel form of execution. He endured crucifixion, not just for the sake of those he knew and loved, but for the sake of all of humanity.

What do we make of Jesus’ “rescue mission” this morning? This story of Jesus’ death is central to our Christian faith, not just today but all through the year, although now, more than ever, we seem to be asking the questions of the significance of this literally crucial event.

Last Sunday a member of the congregation wondered what would have happened if Pilate had reacted differently to Jesus? What if he had been beaten and scourged, then sent away? And two years ago when the film the Passion of the Christ was released some asked where we might be today if Jesus had been executed in some other, less public way. Would we still be here on God’s Friday to remember Jesus’ self-giving love?

Some would argue that Jesus knew his mission clearly and from the beginning. Everything he did during his brief ministry was directed toward the cross of Calvary, even to the eventual outcome of death. Yet his anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane suggests that while Jesus may have been aware of how provocative his message was, he prayed to be spared of suffering.

One stream of our Christian tradition also tells us that Jesus’ death was a substitutionary sacrifice. In one way of sharing the story, God is angry at the people of the world for their sins, so the only way that God’s wrath can be appeased is by sending Jesus, to take on the sins of the world. The image is of a stern parent who is determined to punish a wayward child, only to have the “good child” take on the punishment instead.

Then, at the other extreme of thought, there are some who would have us move on from the imagery of the crucifixion, insisting that we no longer need to think in terms of blood sacrifice in order to be accepted by God. In a way they are arguing that Good Friday is no longer necessary as we become “modern” people.

Speaking from my personal perspective, while I do not respond to the image of the judgmental, angry God, I can’t dispense with the power of the cross and the loving rescue that it represents. There are times in my life when I have been deeply aware that I need to be saved from myself, and the dark powers of this world, and I look to the cross. While I would so much rather look elsewhere, especially to the empty tomb, Christianity would not make sense to me without the view to Calvary.

We come to understand, as life goes on, that we are not so modern and enlightened as we would like to be. Selfishness and cruelty are daily realities all around us. We could become cynical and bitter and self-serving simply by paying attention to the evening news. Yet we are unwilling to let this be the meaning of life. Amidst the billions of little dramas that unfold each day we find the stories of sacrificial love and dramatic rescues in all their different forms.

Why? Because they remind us that self-interest and personal safety are not all that matter in this world. When a person, living or dead, donates a kidney for the well-being of another, or a search and rescue worker plucks a person from raging waters we are grateful and lifted up, not just because of that particular incident but because they offer a different truth. We retell the stories because the message is so important to what it means to be human. That message will be repeated during the next few days as thousands of Canadians, including at least one young person from our congregation, gather at the war memorial at Vimy in France to honour the sacrifice of courageous young men nearly a century ago. It is so important to remember.

The reason we are here today is because our Christian story opens our hearts and minds even wider, in the acknowledgment that God’s desire is for reconciliation and forgiveness for this world. Rather than focus on God’s anger, we gratefully say that even though we have teetered on the edge because of our impairments, and may have toppled into the pit at times, God, in Jesus who is the Christ, has come to us and wrapped us in a fierce love even to the point of death so that we might live. This is a daring rescue mission, and not only do we retell the story today, it happens again and again for those who seek new life and hope.

We can be comforted today in remembering that there is nothing new in the struggle to comprehend the meaning of the cross of Christ. Before any of the gospels were written the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Christian community in Corinth in which he advised them

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

One last thought this morning, contained in the words “thank you.” We don’t have to be told that when the subway riders were rescued they tried to express their gratitude, even though words would never be enough. We hear that when organ recipients emerge from the anaesthetic their desire is to find the family of the one who made such a gracious gift to say “thank you.” Because I have been to Vimy, I can tell you that the teenagers who visit in the next few days will be moved to tears when they look at the inscriptions on the white gravestones.

The glimmer of Good News on this dark day is that we can seek out Jesus and express our gratitude for this cosmic rescue mission. We are loved and saved and we can live in thanks for the new life which is ours.