Good Friday 2022
15th April 2022
1,992 years ago, Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross and left there to die. The Temple authorities, the ordinary Jewish people and the Roman governor had conspired together to execute Him. He was the kindest, gentlest, purest person who ever lived, so why did they want Him dead?
The temple authorities wanted Him dead because He was a threat to their position, their power, and their money. The Jewish people wanted Him dead because they'd been subjected to fake news – told that He was a blasphemer, a phoney. The Romans wanted Him dead because they thought His presence in Jerusalem might lead to a riot, or even a revolution.
The temple authorities were right about Jesus. He truly was a threat to their privileged way of life. A few days before, He'd overthrown the money changers' tables in the temple courtyard, and driven them out with a whip. He said they'd turned God's temple into a den of thieves.
The ordinary people were completely wrong. They'd believed their political leaders' lies, as we still do.
The Romans were half right. Jesus has brought about a revolution. But He wasn't interested in rebelling against Rome. He told us to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God's." Jesus's revolution is within the human heart.
Nineteen years later, Paul and Silas, two of Jesus's followers, were speaking to the people in the Greek town of Thessalonica. They talked about the death and resurrection of Jesus. They didn't talk about politics but some people accused them of trying to turn the world upside down. That is, of revolution. Paul and Silas had to leave that town, and flee to Berea, where they continued to talk about Jesus.
Why do so many people still think of Jesus as some sort of threat? The people in Thessalonica were right. Jesus does come to turn the world upside down. He doesn't call us to rebel against our government, or start wars. He's the Prince of Peace. He calls us to choose a different set of values.
Jesus had said, "my kingdom is not of this world". He came to revolutionise the human heart. He came to replace fear with confidence, despair with hope, hatred with love, resentment with forgiveness, guilt with peace of mind. He came to teach us how to live the best lives we can live. And to all who believe in Him, He gives total forgiveness for everything we've done wrong, and He sends His Holy Spirit to help us to live worthwhile, beautiful, loving, holy lives. He offers to give each one of us a new heart.
It's true that some people who call themselves Christians, including some church leaders, live lives that contradict all of this. But that doesn't mean it's not true. It just means those people are hypocrites. You really shouldn't ignore any leader just because some people claim to be his followers when they're really not.
On Good Friday, Christians all over the world come together to remember that Jesus Christ died for us. He died so that we can have a new start, we can put our past behind us and begin a new life, a life of faith, of love and of peace. He came, and He died, so that we, who have made so many mistakes, who have hurt so many people, who have done so many dirty, nasty things – we all have – can be changed from the inside – revolutionised.
We come together to remember that three days after He died, Jesus Christ came to life again. We come to celebrate and give thanks because God has given us the ability to believe in the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus to set us free from sin and death, and to give us holiness and eternal life. We come together to rejoice that when Jesus left this earth and returned to our Father in Heaven, He sent us the Holy Spirit to change our hearts, and so change our lives, and our eternities.
Perhaps this Easter you'll find, perhaps for the first time, that you can believe that Jesus died for you. Or perhaps you've known that for a long time, but have rather mislaid your faith. I urge you to chose life over death. Choose love over hate. Choose forgiveness over anger. Choose peace over guilt. Choose Jesus. Choose to embrace the love of God. Choose to accept God's power to give you a good, fulfilled, peaceable, loving life.
Jesus can make that possible.