Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Lectionary: 40

For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

Most Americans remember September 11, 2001; most of us can speak of a “before nine-eleven” and “after nine-eleven.” Not many can remember the Second World War and the profound changes it effected in the American experience. American isolationism disappeared overnight after December 6, 1941, and remained dormant until the twenty-first century. Americans accepted the responsibility to lead the world toward a more just and democratic society. As the war progressed, we saw face-to-face the horror of anti-Semitism and disavowed that evil tradition. Many changes -- like the challenge to racism and the demand for equal rights, first among African Americans, and then among women and gays – have yet to be fully realized.

I suspect that Covid-19 will effect similar changes in the United States and abroad. That very expression – “the United States and abroad” – may become anachronistic as we reconsider our barriers and boundaries. Abroad is too simple a word to describe our relation to the world and its peoples.

We are being tested by this pandemic, and sins against its reality appear in many forms. There are those who simply refuse to deal with it. We saw young people stubbornly congregating on beaches and organizing coronavirus parties. Other people create conspiracies; they blame “Chinese” for spawning the virus. Still others hoard short supplies of necessary goods, or amass and sell them at exorbitant prices. Some will use social distancing as an excuse for not giving assistance to the needy and helpless. Where they might have used practical precautions and acted effectively, they refused to do anything.

On Good Friday we remember “one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” The Lord God of Heaven and Earth chose to close the distance between divinity and humanity and paid a heavy price.

On Good Friday we hear the invitation to “confidently approach the throne of grace.” The throne, of course, is a cross; that horrible chair on which Jesus was mounted and died. It is also the Seat of Majesty described in the Book of Daniel, and Revelation.

Our faith teaches us there is no evil in the cross, and we address the epidemic with that confidence. Tested, we find opportunities to practice compassion, kindness, and generosity. Challenged, we invoke God’s spirit and discover more patience than we’ve ever known.