Crucifixion

 Good Friday

Color: Black

Lectionary Texts:

OT: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Psalter: Psalm 22 (UMH 752)

Epistle: Hebrews 10:16-25

Gospel: John 18:1-19:42

The lectionary texts are much more extensive for today than usual. They are important. Take some time and read them all, whether you are doing this on Friday or Saturday.

Thanks to Jennifer for her comment. Like her, I'm praying for next year in church. I had not thought about intinction possibly ending. I'll think about it and write about it next week.

Good Friday begins the Triduum, the three days from crucifixion to resurrection. The weather forecast this year goes remarkably well with the Triduum. It's a very cold, windy, mid-forties Good Friday. Saturday will be better. Sunday's forecast is low-70's, perfect weather for Easter. 

Crucifixion is a horrible way to die. Although the Romans did not invent it, they were the only Empire to make extensive use of it. Crucifixions were always public. The Romans wanted their subjects to be ever mindfully afraid of what could happen to anyone convicted of a serious crime. The most infamous crucifixions occurred after the slave revolt of Spartacus in 63 B.C. The Romans lined all the roads that led to Rome with hundreds of rebellious slaves hanging from crosses. 

Crucifixion was both horribly painful and utterly humiliating. Men were first stripped, whipped, beaten mercilessly, spat upon, and cursed by both soldiers and crowds as they carried the instruments of their own destruction from the town square to the place of execution. 

Death was extraordinarily painful. Unlike other forms of execution such as beheading or burning, crucifixion took a very long time, usually two to three days. Pain was cause by muscles and tissues, stretched out of joint, swelling and pressing on nerves. Pain became continuously more intense, but it was not the pain that killed. Death was by suffocation, when eventually the lungs collapsed. 

Jesus died unusually quickly, in only six hours. We are not sure why. Perhaps he was beaten more severely than others.  Perhaps the nails were badly driven in, causing excessive blood loss. Perhaps he was not as physically strong as most men. This would explain why Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus' cross (although in the Gospel of John, Jesus himself carries his cross). 

Perhaps the most frequently misunderstood point in the crucifixion narrative is when, in Matthew and Mark, Jesus says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Why would Jesus say that? The answer is in our lectionary Psalter reading today, Psalm 22. It begins with those words. When Jesus said them, he was quoting the Psalm. When he quoted this first verse of the Psalm, he had the entire Psalm in mind. It is much the same as if I were to say, "The Lord is my shepherd." I wouldn't have to say the rest of Psalm 23 for just about all Christians to know that I had the whole Psalm in mind. As you read Psalm 22, you will see why Jesus quoted it. The Psalmist is in horrible pain. Yet even in that pain the Psalmist ends with words of great hope, starting in verse 21. The end of verse 29 says, "And I shall live for Him." Jesus died in hope. Jesus died that we might live. Let us live for Him.

Crucified Lord,

May we live for you, even as you lived and died and live forever for us. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian