In Bible Belt Christianity, we historically do not hold Good Friday services. We go directly to Easter. I don't know why, but I think it has to do with a revolt against anything deemed Catholic. So, before 1998, although having been in an institutional church since age 6, I had never attended a Good Friday service. Then, I began attending an Anglican bible study, and attended a Good Friday service at that church. What I found was that a Good Friday service can be one of the most profound moments of one's year and life. But it must be done correctly. As the former rector at that church said: "You can't pole vault over Calvary." In other words, you must absorb and reflect upon Good Friday and what the crucifixion tells us about mankind, ourselves, and our God.
What does Good Friday tell us about mankind? It confirms the fallen nature of man. A man performing miracles (restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, resurrecting a little girl, casting out demons) was killed, because he spoke out against the religious establishment. This tells us that, as Christians, we must be cautious about our defense of our religious views. As members of religious institutions, we need to recognize the sinful nature of such institutions. Otherwise, our institutions will "crucify" people just like Jesus was crucified. Who has not seen a church "crucify" someone, rather than offer grace? We are no different from the Pharisees who cried for Christ's death. We believe that our version of Christianity is correct, and we are deeply offended when someone challenges it. Who are we to take offense when other's challenge our religious views, when Christ suffered the greatest offense--death at the hands of his religious accusers? That is not to say that we shouldn't hold to our beliefs. But we can either be condemning or gracious in holding to our beliefs. Which way is ultimately going to demonstrate Christ to the world?
What does Good Friday tell us about ourselves? A good friend recently told me that Jesus died for sinners, not our sins. Jesus didn't die to clean us up--to make us more appealing to ourselves or the world. Jesus died to rescue us from the false comfort of self-righteousness, and from the rapacious jaws of self-condemnation. Jesus died to divert us from our paths of self-destruction, to a new life of love and peace. The result is that we receive some freedom in this life from our sins, but the aim was to divert us from our chosen paths, to the path which God desires for us.
What does Good Friday tell us about God? It demonstrates that God recognizes that life on earth is difficult and even hellish. It is difficult whether one is a Christian or not. It is hellish because we are bent on having our own way and seeking happiness through our own means. It reflects God's solidarity and empathy with us in our suffering. It demonstrates that God will put an end to our suffering if we will let Him--both eternally and in the here and now. God has walked the path of loneliness, rejection by friends, homelessness, physical suffering, familial discord, and death. He did not have to walk that path for Himself. He walked that path for us.
May this Good Friday be both an indictment of our self-centeredness (both corporate and individual) and a confirmation of the Creator's love for us in the midst of our self-centeredness. May we find freedom through this knowledge and pass on to others the grace which God has shown to us.
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