Here is the Man: A Good Friday Sermon by Deacon Terry

​After praying the Stations of the Cross daily, throughout the Lenten season and on Fridays here at the church, some new thoughts cross my mind.
So I’m looking at Good Friday a bit differently this year and I wanted to share some of that with you.
Pilate, sitting in the judgment seat (or so he/we and the crowd think) has spoken the truth beyond the words we hear and beyond the man we see.
He has spoken words that will live on forever.
Pilate, the man who thinks he’s in charge, doesn’t have a clue.
Who is this man? Who do you see? To whom is Pilate referring?
Yes, it is Jesus of Nazareth.
He was soon to be wearing a crown of thorns and dressed in a purple robe. He will be whipped and beaten.
But I wonder if this man is not only being himself, the son of God,
might also be someone else?
this man who is beaten and abused,
this man who has been broken,
this man who is mocked and ridiculed,
this man who is cut and bleeding,
this man who is the victim of violence and injustice,
this man who is in pain and suffering,
this man who has been abandoned, betrayed, and denied,
 this man who stands alone in silence.
Who is this man?
Do you recognize his face, his pain, his brokenness?
As we read the account Jesus’ trial, brutal treatment, crucifixion – I ask you to think about it a bit differently.
Here’s what I am suggesting :
With your eyes closed and looking down from the cross:
Touch with his hands and feel your own pain and the pain of the world.
Look with his eyes and see your own brokenness and the brokenness of
this world.
Listen with his ears and hear your own silence.
Taste with his tongue your own thirst and dryness.
Taste your own vinegar
Smell with his nose the many ways the stench of death has invaded your life and throughout the world.
This man/Jesus is the image and reflection of ourselves, our losses, pain and suffering, our brokenness, our loneliness and abandonment.
His story is the human story. We see him everywhere.
Look in any room at a hospital or nursing home; “Here is the man.”
Hear the cries of those who grieve; “Here is the man.”
See the violence across our country, our world; “Here is the man.”
Hear the pleas for the refugee; “Here is the man”.
Feel the pain of the unemployed; “Here is the man.”
Wherever we find injustice, discrimination, or oppression; “Here is the man.”
Look into the faces of battered women and abused children; “Here is the man.”
The poor, the hungry, the needy; “Here is the man.”
In the midst of fear, loss, or sorrow; “Here is the man.”
Wherever there is pain, suffering, or death; “Here is the man.”
In the brokenness of all humanity; “Here is the man.”
I believe, when looking at the cross that way we see, the true Jesus of Nazareth.
He allowed this pain to be inflicted upon himself to share his Love for human kind.
If we fail to see that this man/Jesus on the cross represents all of us.
We may miss the whole understanding of the cross.
If we don’t see that, then the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is just another tragic story of humanity turning against itself,
Just another chapter in the book of humanity’s ability to be less than human,
Just another sad tale at which we shake our heads and wonder when and how any of this will ever change;
Then there is nothing good about this Friday.
“Here is the man.”
I wonder if the hidden meaning and truth in Pilate’s words are this.
Here is the human being.
Here is you.     Here is me.
Jesus is the mirror in which we see ourselves, the truth and our own pain, our own suffering.
Here is where we should see the pain and, the brokenness of our world, the violence that destroys, and the tragic reality of death.
The Jewish leader charged Jesus, and Pilate condemned him for making himself equal to God, claiming that he is the Son of God.
Of that he is guilty. Later in this gospel story we will hear Thomas confirm the truth of those charges when he looks at Jesus’ wounds and proclaims, “My Lord and my God.”
So to clarify – everyone had their hands in it, the Jewish leaders, Pilate, the soldiers, the crowd, humanity.
Much like the song says, “where you there, when they crucified my Lord?”
Here is the man.
See the dignity of the one who is charged, condemned, and guilty. Hear the peace that fills his silence.
See the strength that lets him embrace and cling to the cross.
Hear the compassion in the midst of his suffering as he unites his mother and the beloved disciple.
Hear the victory in his words, “It is finished.”
We need to receive the life he offers us when he gives up his breath, his spirit on this Good Friday.
That dignity, peace, strength, compassion, victory, and life are the very presence of God himself.
God is not distant from this man, his pain and suffering, or his death — this man who is every man and woman.
Jesus had a choice on this Good Friday.
He had a choice to preserve his earthly life or to sacrifice it for human kind.
He chose  to sacrifice – he chose Love – Love for human kind, love on the cross.
We, when looking at the cross, reading the passion account have a choice also.
Do we “save our earthly life” by looking the other way?
Do we “not speak up”, when wrongs are committed?
Do we “not get involved”?
I’m thinking we should choose Love – Like Jesus did.
That’s what I pray for today on this Good Friday.
I pray that we all have the courage to follow Jesus example of Love
Looking at that cross and seeing Love.
Jesus embraced the cross of suffering and death for all people and transformed it into a Tree of Life.
The hard wood of the cross now shines with hope and possibilities for the healing, reconciliation, and restoration of our own lives and for those throughout the world.
That’s what makes this Friday good.
Today is Good Friday
“Here is the man.”  “Here is you and here is me”.
And = Thank God “Sunday is on the Way”!
Amen