The Darkness and the Light…

The Revd Deacon Polly M. Bowen

This year the Sunday Morning Adult Class is looking at the Gospel According to John. The readings for Good Friday always include the Passion Story from John’s Gospel, and a comparison with the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) reveals striking differences. Right from the beginning John’s Gospel is different. He opens with a reminder of Creation: “In the beginning was the Word.” He moves quickly to the Incarnation: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” And in the final chapters of his Gospel, Jesus the WORD returns to God.

The Passion Story begins on Palm Sunday – try to be alert this year to the contrast between the joyful, triumphant beginning of our Palm Sunday liturgy and its more somber ending. The story intensifies on Maundy Thursday, when we participate in the Last Supper and the Foot washing ceremony, putting ourselves into the story.

That supper that Jesus shared with his friends was only one of a series of meals. The gospels (all of them) are full of stories about Jesus eating and drinking with friends. Table fellowship is everywhere. It carries overtones of love and acceptance, forgiveness and restoration. Jesus ate with the rich and with the poor, with the establishment and with the outcasts. He ate in the homes of friends, at a wedding, at a hillside picnic with 5000 or so people. And he never came empty-handed. He used these meals as opportunities for teaching, for healing, for abundant giving and sharing of the Kingdom promises. Everyone was welcome. No one, not the worst sinner, was turned away.

Even that last night, in that upper room – the betrayer was there, and he was welcomed. Not even Judas was excluded from table-fellowship with Jesus. He took himself away. Would I have left? Would you have left? The Gospel tells us that Judas went out, and it was night. What a metaphor – it was ALWAYS night for people like Judas. In the presence of the Light of the World, Judas walked in darkness.

And as Judas left, the darkness began creeping in. The scene shifts to a garden. But again, John’s Gospel is different. There is no agonized Gethsemane scene here, no crisis of doubt. We see instead a King, calmly doing the work he came to do. Jesus shows us a new way of thinking, a new way of understanding our relationship with God. Before Jesus, before the Passion, before the Resurrection, we humans understood ourselves as destined to die, but now, because of the events of these three days, we know that even though Death may still be the last enemy, it is not the last word. The last word is Jesus!

In darkness Judas and the soldiers arrive at the garden. But there is no Judas-kiss in John’s Gospel. Instead, the King steps forward and takes command . “Whom do you seek?” he asks, and when they tell him, he stuns them by revealing his true identity: “I am he.” This is no frightened, cowering prisoner; this is the great “I AM” – Jesus identifies himself with the sacred name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.

Jesus is taken away. And now the creeping darkness engulfs Peter. Peter, the friend, the trusted one. Challenged to declare himself for Light, or for Darkness, he says, “I do not know the man.”

But Peter did know Jesus. He had walked with the Light of the World . “I do not know the man. ” What would I have said? What would you have said ? “You were with him. You were one of his friends.” I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN. This is the terrible power of Darkness.

Again the scene shifts. We come to Pilate’s court. Poor Pilate – he expects another ordinary, tiring case – some itinerant rabble rouser here for the holidays, and he comes face to face with I AM. Pilate’s response is curious. Perhaps he even gets a glimpse of the Light. At first he calls Jesus "the man," but then there is the question of kingship. The irony is that Pilate, in some perverted way, recognizes Jesus' kingship. “Shall I release the King of the Jews?” “What, crucify your King?” And the ultimate irony is the sign attached to the cross. Pilate declares Jesus “King” in every language except the language of faith. And with that he sinks back into his own darkness. Is that darkness familiar to us?

Jesus is led away to be crucified. Once again, John has a different vision. Jesus carries his own cross – there is no need for a helper. He doesn’t fall – there are no weeping women. THE KING IS ABOUT TO BE ENTHRONED.

If our focus here is only on the pain, the blood, the dying, then we miss the full meaning of the Passion. SIN lurks at the cross. It brandishes all its ugliness, its violence, its aggression, its disregard for the suffering of a flawed and broken people, and is confronted by the Incarnation of God’s love. The odds are too great for Sin to win this battle, for in the end, the wages of unrepentant Sin is Death.

Even at this point there are some details in this story that don’t appear in the other gospels: The King’s last actions on the cross are the care of his followers, and instructions to the Community gathered around the Cross-Throne. And then the work is finished, and the WORD returns to God. And the world is forever changed - both torn apart and made new by one man’s life and death.

But there is one final cruel and callous act, the spearing of Jesus’ side. They look on him whom they have pierced, and they see no life. But those who see with the eyes of faith see the power of Jesus’ death made visible: flowing from his wounded side are the blood of the New Covenant and the Water of Baptism – poured out on the Church and the World, met at the foot of the cross.

Our place is still at the foot of the cross. There is darkness there, but there is also Light. And in that Light we are confronted by our own inadequacy, our anguish and dread, our potential for sin and our paucity of forgiveness, the fearful limits of fallen humanity. But we are also confronted by the consummate love of God. Darkness falls upon the face of the earth, but Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

In the great medieval paintings of the crucifixion we often see at the foot of the cross Mary, Jesus’ mother, and the Beloved Disciple. Look closely at the Beloved Disciple – could that be YOU? Or perhaps you’re one of the people off to the side, the people in Middle-Ages European dress, looking curiously out of place. These were the donors – the people who commissioned the paintings. In their need to share in the Passion they often had themselves painted into the picture.

I invite you to paint yourself into the picture this year. Begin now, and continue through the Palm Sunday procession, the Last Supper and the foot washing, through Good Friday and the emptiness of Saturday. Only by entering fully into the Passion can we enter fully into the Resurrection. Come to the cross. Share the Lord’s Passion. Be with Him, and with one another, in the struggle with sin and death. Remember, my brothers and sisters: if we are crucified with Christ, we shall also rise victorious with him. Amen.