Whose Good Friday?
I wasn’t sure how the Unitarians would cover the death of Jesus. We don’t talk about Jesus that often but when we do, it demands our attention. We spend most days talking about ways to be Christ like. How to help, to pray, to guide, to make change.
Hearing the pastor read the account of Jesus’ death brought tears to my eyes. Instead of just the Bible, she pulls from many sources including poetry. She reads a piece from the perspective of the man who drove the nails into Jesus’ innocent palms. Recounting how he felt at the end of the day and where the nails ended up after it was all done. They all wanted a piece of Him. Something to sell on the market.
My mind slips back to a women’s retreat I went on in 2019. We all sat in a silent room with our eyes closed as the pastor read every gruesome detail of abuse Jesus endured that day. She described the science and torture His body went through and as she began to speak about the nails, a loud hammer from the back of the room came down against metal causing us all to jump unexpectedly. As she read on, her voice began to crack. She stopped and began to weep, unable to finish. We were all given a flattened nail, with red paint at the tip, as a keep sake to never forget this impact and this sacrifice.
The complete irony of the entire situation is that these would be the people to crucify Him again were He there in that room that very day. Those who are only hanging on for the day He returns are the very same who would call Him blasphemous and would use force unapologetically to eliminate Him. Those who cheer on the insurrection and the killing of LGBTQIA children. Those who don’t want to teach critical race theory and ban books. These are honestly the people who think they will be praised when He comes back to earth. They kill their savior
How do they see this as lining up with His values? How do they not realize they are the ones cheering on Palm Sunday AND on Good Friday? Pro guns, selective blessings, rules to follow- all Pharisees.
Never honoring His walk or His death. Only honoring the idea that He can make them feel better when things are hard and heaven is a big party at the end.
How convenient.
They’re so worried about the after life, they have no regard for the life we are in right now. The crucifixion and resurrection were not the end game for Jesus. He was bringing people back from the dead for months before that. The end game was having us live out his teaching. From birth to death.
Heaven isn’t the goal. Heaven is the reward for doing His work. Spreading His legacy of love to all people. ALL people. His legacy of love and forgiveness. Inclusion and assistance. His patience and his kindness.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
-Luke 23;34
I don’t know how they don’t know but they don’t.
I wept.
Jesus wept.
