Good Friday?
AWM
“What’s good about it,” asked my granddaughter. “What’s good about a day when Jesus was killed?” This is not a new question and I have not been satisfied with the intellectual, theological reasons I’ve heard before. So, I have been pondering.
I may get some push-back here. That’s ok. The premise of Amy’s Well is for entertaining questions and doubts. And I think it is good to question what has been handed down through generations until it becomes our unquestioned identity. This is true about culture, about education, about religion. For today, I’ll stay with religion and my question, “what’s good about Good Friday?”
I am reminded of my treasured pink hobnob pitcher inherited from my mother. (You can read that whole story here.) It was broken to pieces. I packed the pieces carefully, hoping it could be repaired. But rather than actually deal with it, I let it closed up, ignoring it when I walked by, doubting repair was possible. Despite my doubt, loving hands creatively made something new and beautiful from it. The glass took on a new shape, holding the memories of what it was and the scars of what it took to become something new. And here’s the thing. My pitcher wasn’t broken so that it could be made new. It was made new because it was broken.
It has not set well with me that “Jesus had to die to save us from our sin.” That he had to broken and suffer in order for us to be made new. Like [un]comforting comments sometimes offered suggesting suffering happens in order to teach us a lesson. No. Suffering happens. And the love of God can work through it. Jesus suffered because of humanity’s sin and God worked through it to bring new life out of the suffering. THAT is the mystery.
The mystery of Jesus is not that he had to die but that his love was deep and wide enough to be willing to die by the burden of humanity’s sin. Love deep enough to speak the truth against imperial power and capitalism. Love wide enough to call out the living of traditions at the expense of loving people. Love humble enough to wash dirty feet. Love merciful enough to forgive even those who persecuted, betrayed, and denied. Love so great, it was willing to die showing us how to live. Jesus didn’t die to save us so we could worship him. Jesus took the brunt of humanity’s burdens. Teaching us that if we give God all our broken pieces, all our burdensome sin, we can be transformed into something new.
What is good about Good Friday? For me, it’s the mystery and promise of Love so deep and wide it can transform all our broken ways – if we only give them up. That’s the hard part.
May this time, this week, remind us there is a God who is always present, in ways we may not see, to take our broken pieces as individuals and communities and bring forth something new - an era of truth, love, and justice.
In this together…