THE WHOLE STORY OF GOOD FRIDAY

What I most treasure of this day is the barrenness and the quiet. Churches strip the altars the night before, take down candles and frontals and ornate crosses on this day as a way to show the eye that things are different. The last words of Jesus on the cross are sources for reflection and meditation. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” John, our gospel today, puts on Jesus’ lips: “Woman, here is your son, here is your mother.” “I am thirsty. It is finished.”

The last words of Christ on the cross are parts of today’s experience, yet Good Friday is more than the last torturous hours that Jesus hung on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem. The great thirteenth century Persian poet Rumi – who was not a Christian but wrote of truth – said "no one knows our name until our last breath goes out." In other words, it takes a whole life to define anyone. It takes a whole life to say finally who we are. It took more than Jesus’ words on the cross to say who he was and is for us today. Who did he love, what was important to him, what fights did he choose to fight, which rules did he opt to break, which groups of people would he relentlessly defend? William Sloane Coffin, the visionary and prophetic preacher and chaplain at Yale four decades ago, died two days ago in his home in Vermont. He wrote how: “deserted by his disciples, in agony on the cross, barely thirty years old, Christ said, ‘It is finished.’ And thus ended the most complete life ever lived.”

When I listen to the story of Christ’s suffering, I continue to be drawn to the characters that weave in and out of the story. Peter is a favorite. What would preachers do without Peter? The man of bold gestures, sudden actions and his tendency to blurt out the first thing that comes to his mind. We love Peter because he is so much like us. When we find it hard to be like Jesus, and when we despise the notion of being a Judas, Peter is wonderfully available. What did happen to Peter back there in Jerusalem? While Jesus was being put on trial, Peter followed at a distance lurking in the shadows outside the gate. He didn't even want to go in. Someone puts two and two together and asks him if he was one of Jesus' disciples. Peter back-peddles three times and denies any connection.

When Jesus began to prepare his followers for what would happen on this day when he was destined to suffer, the one who had the hardest time with it was Peter. He took Jesus aside and started arguing with him. “No, it couldn't be Lord -- I couldn't bear it -- we won't let it happen -- it doesn't have to be that way.” Peter was the type of person who doesn't take bad news well. The world is full of these people. In my family, we know who not to involve in too many details of family crises and tragedies. We have seen how they do not keep it together. They tend to be the most emotional, the most sensitive, and they cry at the drop of a hat. They are the feelers in the family, not the thinkers and the doers. Though they collapse easily, in real ways they are the core of the family because they are the ones willing to show and express what all the others are afraid to show: that love can make you afraid. You can love so deeply that sometimes you just can't hold life together.

Over Peter’s protests and denials, Jesus did die on the cross. One gospel says that darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. Time stood still it seemed. Perhaps you have had moments in your life when it seemed like the world stopped turning and time stood still. We all experience loss, disappointment, failure, embarrassment. These are times when we fall on our faces, times when we are not prepared, times when we were plain wrong when everyone else was right. There are certainly moments when we should have stayed silent but we spoke words that can never be taken back. These are times when we want to hide, cover up, and forget about everything; just go to sleep for a while.

This is what God does for the likes of Peter and you and me. God allows the embarrassing and shameful moments to pass -- seeing through our bravado, impulsiveness, posturing and our promises. In God's eyes at least, we will never be the sum of our mistakes and failures. God’s grace moves us forward -- past our denials, lowest points, betrayals and our disappointments. Peter became a saint and a leader in the church, even though many probably heard about what he did on that night in Jerusalem. Will we too move on from those moments we would rather take back and wish never happened? Jesus suffered on the cross so that we would never be left alone through what life brings us.