13^th April 2010

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley (Good Friday 2 April 2010)

Lessons -- Isaiah 53:3-9; Hebrews 4:4-16; Luke 23:13-49

'At the place called the Skull they crucified him, with the
criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. And Jesus
said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." . . .
Then Jesus said to one of the criminals, "Truly, I tell you, today
you will be with me in Paradise." ' (Luke 23:33,34,43)

The horror and scandal of the Cross cannot be evaded. The Holy One of God is crucified outside the walls of the Holy City. The One who befriended outcasts, healed the afflicted and forgave sinners is crucified as if he were the enemy of humanity. The One who criticised false piety and narrow moralism in obedience to the immeasurable love of God is crucified as if he were the enemy of God.

The bearer of God's mercy is put to death by a method reserved to punish hardened criminals. And, aside from two criminals, he dies alone -- abandoned by religious leaders, State officials, once-enthusiastic crowds and his own disciples.

Hardly the end expected of a Messiah! No wonder religious leaders are scornful of his claim to embody the mercy of God, soldiers mock his failure to save himself, crowds turn on him, one of the criminals is bitter, sarcastic and abusive, and his disciples betray and disown him.

In view of such widespread hostility we may think of Jesus as the tragic and innocent victim of hatred and fear. But, as Luke shows, he is not only a victim who shares the fate of others who have suffered martyrdom and public disapproval. He is also, and at the same time, the victor!
Christ's agony and death are shot through with hope.

Christ is the only person who acts with freedom in the chaotic events unfolding around him. He doesn't protest his innocence or hit back at those who humiliate or desert him. He is so confident of God's ultimate victory over evil that, facing the horror of the cross, he can say, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit / life!' (v46)

The most emphatic note of triumph is in his words of mercy! From the Cross he prays: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'. (v34) .
. . And, to the penitent criminal, he says, 'Truly today you will be with me in Paradise'. (v43)

Think a moment about the exchange between Jesus and the non-abusive criminal. Unlike Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32 where both criminals mock Jesus, Luke tells of one who, in his darkest hour, turns tentatively towards the light. Where paradise seems utterly lost Jesus welcomes a very bad man to paradise!

It is only here in any Gospel where anybody calls Jesus by name. Elsewhere he is Lord, Christ and the like. As Richard Neuhaus notes, 'The first person to be so familiar is not a disciple but a convicted criminal who also is the last person to speak to Jesus before he dies.' (Death on a Friday Afternoon, p36.)

As he does throughout his gospel (such as in the parable of the prodigal son and the calling of Zacchaeus) Luke highlights the scarcely believable mercy of God. As Neuhaus puts it, 'Jesus began at the bottom of the human heap . . . to show that none can fall so far that they are beyond the reach of God's love.' (p42)

On the cross, the humiliated One who on the face of it is utterly defeated, triumphs by forgiving the perpetrators and even welcoming a hardened 'malefactor' into the community of grace. Thus 'in his intercession even on behalf of his tormentors, (Jesus) opens the possibility of God's forgiveness of even the most terrible sin'. (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News according to Luke, p360.)

Jesus words of mercy from the cross have always been an obstacle to good citizens in the community and the Church. Two issues commonly arise: the nature of sin and the means by which sin is forgiven.

* Do we really think that forgiveness of sin is a matter of life and death? We are uneasy about talk of sin, believing that we are not basically flawed but basically good. We have our weaknesses and are happy to pray 'forgive us our sins' (the Lord's Prayer) and to affirm our faith in 'the forgiveness of sins' (the Nicene Creed /Apostles Creed) but only if that means God turning a blind eye to our foibles. We don't see ourselves in the same league as the horrible people who crucified Jesus!

We basically agree with AC Grayling, a keynote speaker at the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, who was quoted as saying: 'Christianity has this awful moral psychology that says we are all failed creatures in need of grace and salvation. It's these aspects of religion, ethically speaking, that are very disagreeable. Humanist ethics wants to start with the good.' (The Age, 13/3/10)

The main problem with this philosophy of life is that good people can fail to see the enormity of evil, often done with the best of intentions, or to admit their failure to defeat evil. If we look honestly at the state of the world, we have to admit that we can't unwind the past or present effects of evil -- in our own lives or in the lives of our communities. As numerous futile attempts to do so show, we cannot recover paradise on earth!

* We may think that forgiveness is a necessary part of life but baulk at the claim that it has been accomplished in Jesus' crucifixion. Isn't it enough that Jesus tells us about the prodigal son and Zacchaeus? Why bloodshed and death?

The reason is that 'Reconciliation must do justice to what went wrong. It will not do to merely overlook the wrong. We could not bear to live in a world where wrong is taken lightly, where right and wrong make no difference.' (Neuhaus, p9.) We don't simply have a few faults to be overlooked in the give and take of our life together. Sin is a turning away from the holiness and mercy of God, a wanting to become like God and so resisting God's claim on our lives. Seen in the light of the humanity of Christ, we have squandered our dignity and forfeited paradise.

The crucifixion of Jesus is the place where the effect of our hatred of God is displayed in all its stark horror. Brutal criminals, sincere believers, desperate crowds and anxious public officials are linked by their common rejection of the fullness of love which is God's purpose for all. The Cross is the sign of God's judgment on our lost innocence.

At the same time, however, it is the event through which sin is forgiven.
This is anathema to many. In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, speaking for many atheists and church members says that we should 'dismiss the idea that Jesus died for the sins of the world as barking mad. If God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them?' (The Age 10/3/09) This is to miss the gravity of sin, the necessity for things to be set right and our inability to do so. Evil must not be allowed to have the last word.
Nor must it be trivialised as something we can manage!

It must be disabled! But who can do such a thing? Not us who cannot even get ourselves right. Only One who is fully human (as we are not) and who embodies the fullness of God's love for us; One who is in no way responsible for what has gone wrong, yet freely chooses to strip evil of its power over us; One who is innocent and loves those who are not.
(Neuhaus, p25.)

Notice the way on which Luke strains to express this inexpressible reality, for which there is no adequate analogy in our experience of sacrificial action -- not even where an innocent bystander intervening to prevent a woman being murdered is killed.

Luke portrays Jesus as the innocent One who dies between two guilty men as if he too were guilty, prompting the centurion, an outsider to faith, to say 'Certainly, this man was innocent' (23:47) in echo of the words of Pilate and the penitent criminal. The innocent One dies with the guilty as a sign of God's deepest solidarity with those for whom paradise has been lost.

This is Good News on Good Friday. If even those who crucified Christ are forgiven, and if even a hardened criminal can be received into the eternal community of grace, then there is hope for all -- including the abusive criminal. There is hope for those who have been brutalised and humiliated; hope for agents of injustice and murderous revolutionaries; hope for those who have squandered their lives in self-pity or self-righteousness.

Jesus' words are spoken to those who played their part in his crucifixion and to humanity in every generation. We can identify ourselves in their reactions -- they represent us. If we had been there the fate of Jesus would not have been different! We too participate in the crucifixion of Jesus and share in the benefits of God's costly love.

Therefore, as we see in the penitent criminal, there is hope for all who have lost their innocence but who glimpse, however dimly, the perfection of our humanity and the forgiveness of God in this crucified man who welcomes us to feast in paradise, no less!.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.