FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Good Friday

April 6, 2007

CHRIST AT THE CENTER:

THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT – THE BODY OF CHRIST

Scripture: John 19:12-37; I Corinthians 12:12-32

INTRODUCTION

We have come a long way in our Lenten journey, talking together about the Gifts of the Spirit as the Apostle Paul listed them in I Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 10 – the gifts of hospitality, unity, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy and discernment – all of which are gifts from God that we can receive if we will believe and open our hearts and minds to accept and use them.

On this Good Friday, standing at the foot of the cross, we finally come to the gift which God has offered to us at the highest cost and greatest price – the sacrifice of the body of His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. And lest we miss the meaning of what has brought us to this service today, let me say it as clearly as I know how: Jesus’ death on the cross long ago makes all the difference in the way that we are related to God and to one another here and now…and for all of eternity.

I

On Ash Wednesday, 2004, Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion” was released to the theaters across America, and Time Magazine ran a cover story six weeks later during Easter, entitled “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?” (Time Magazine, April 12, 2004). Barbara and I went to see the film with another couple from the church, and our plans for dinner that night were upended because the four of us had lost our appetites - so instead we had a few glasses of wine and shared in some heavy conversation.

If you saw “The Passion,” then you’ll remember the scenes of the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life on this earth, and the excruciating depiction of how He was beaten by the Roman soldiers, mocked and scorned by the crowds and then His crucifixion on the cross. Many Jews and Christians were offended by some of the film’s sections that they described as “anti-Semitic,” while others said that it was just too bloody and gory.

But a large number of viewers claimed that watching “The Passion” moved them deeply, strengthened their faith, and caused them to think more seriously about the story of Jesus’ suffering and death.

Now the reason I bring all of that controversy back up again is not to debate the pros and cons of the movie, but rather to focus on the question it raised about the meaning of this Good Friday: “Why did Jesus have to die?”

The Time Magazine article offers this response, which describes some of the theories of the atonement that Biblical scholars, theologians, preachers and people of faith have been working on for centuries:

“The Letter to the Hebrews directly appropriates the Jewish sacrificial metaphor, except this time Jesus is both priest and sacrifice, spilling not the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

The Gospel of Mark favors Roman legal language for the freeing of slaves: The Son of man came…to give His life as a ransom for many.

The first Epistle of Peter…takes a radically different tack, posing Jesus’ trials as occasion for imitation: Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.

And Paul’s Letter to the Colossians pauses…at the cross on its way to the triumphal image of the risen Christ parading demonic enemies in chains: He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them…(Time Magazine article by David Van Biema. Ibid).

Those Biblical and theological descriptions of the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion and the atonement might be more than you bargained for in coming here today. But what’s at stake for Christians is how we believe that we have been saved from the destructive powers of sin, delivered from the fear and finality of death, and brought back into a right and righteous relationship with God through the cross on which Jesus died. And the truth is, you can’t have the crucifixion without the blood. That is what it cost Jesus to forgive us and set us free from sin.

The way the Gospel of John describes the horrible reality of that day, Jesus’ body was battered, bloody and broken. He suffered excruciating pain. His mouth was dry as He cried out “I Thirst,” and when those final words were spoken, “It is finished,” He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Everyone there – the soldiers, the crowd, Jesus’ family and friends – thought that was the end. But we who live on the other side of Easter know and believe what happened then. Somehow God the Father Almighty reached down into the darkness and despair of that tragedy, and brought the body of His only begotten Son back to life – healed, restored, full of love and forgiveness and radiant light.

No one will ever fully understand that great mystery. None of us can ever know for certain how it happened. But somehow, some way, Jesus’ body was raised up out of that tomb by a power stronger than death and by an eternal God who offers us life, here and now and forevermore. And that is the gift – the Body of Christ – whose death and resurrection has made all the difference in this world.

II

Where that leads us today, and the reason why we can call this Friday “Good,” is that the gift of the body of Christ is a gift that keeps on giving, because He is now alive in us. You see, through His Holy Spirit, the risen Christ has come to dwell in you, in me and in the church.

Listen again to the way Paul explained it to the Corinthians:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit…Now you are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it (I Corinthians 12:12-13,27).

Last night, as we celebrated Maundy Thursday Communions in the homes of members of this congregation all across our city, we remembered and re-enacted what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper with His disciples in Jerusalem. He had told them that He was going to die, and they were afraid.

Seeing the fear in their eyes, and wanting to share with them the love and the hope that was in His heart, Jesus transformed that Passover meal into a sacrament when He took the bread and the wine and said to them This is my body, broken for you…This is my blood, shed for you…Do this in remembrance of me.

All these centuries later, we still gather as the Body of Christ to celebrate communion just like we did last night, and His presence is with us, His peace dwells among us, the promise of His grace and love and forgiveness is alive inside each of us and all of us together.

And what our Lord wants most from us is that we will share all of those gifts with one another, here in the church and out there in the world.

Sometimes that’s difficult to do, because our human nature is resistant and not always in alignment with our Savior’s instructions. I have told you before about what happened to the author Kathleen Norris when she joined a Presbyterian church out in South Dakota. She wrote about it in her book “Amazing Grace,” and this is how she told the story:

“Before the service, the new members gathered with some of the elders. One was a man I never liked much. I’ll call him Ed. He’d always seemed ill-tempered to me, and also a terrible gossip, epitomizing the small mindedness that can make church life such a trial.

The minister asked him to formally greet the new members. (So) standing awkwardly before our small group, Ed cleared his throat and mumbled ‘I’d like to welcome you to the body of Christ.’ The minister’s mouth dropped open, as did mine – neither of us had ever heard words remotely like this come from Ed’s mouth…But I was astonished to realize as that service began, that while I may never like Ed very much, I had just been commanded to love him. My own small mind had just been jolted, and the world seemed larger and opened in a new way.” (From “Amazing Grace” by Kathleen Norris, Riverhead Books, 1998, Page 142)

I love that story, because it describes our human nature at its worst and the body of Christ, the church, at its best. And even and especially when the storms strike, when we disagree with one another and our body language rumbles like thunder and flashes with bolts of lightening that threaten to knock the power and the peace of God right out of us, Jesus Christ Himself comes among us, saying to the church, His body on earth, Love one another as I have loved you. Forgive one another, as I have forgiven you. The question is, “Are we ready and willing to share and receive those gifts today?”

CONCLUSION

There’s a Coast Guard station at Nag’s Head in North Carolina which has a plaque commemorating an event that happened many years ago. A hurricane hit that shore with gale force winds that drove the rain sideways and the roar was so loud you could hardly hear the captain shouting out the orders. An S.O.S. had come in, and as they prepared to launch the rescue boat, a young cadet asked “Do we have to go out in this weather?” The captain replied “We have to go out, but we do not have to come back.”

That’s what it means to belong to the body of Christ – love and loyalty, one to another. Commitment to a cause greater than ourselves. And listening, ever so carefully, to the voice of One who faced the storms Himself, and who said This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you, and then went on to face the pain and suffering of the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

My friends, what it all comes down to on Good Friday is this: Jesus Christ shed His blood and gave His body, His life for our redemption and salvation. That was and is His sacrificial gift to us. Today He calls you and me to be His body on earth – His hands reaching out to others, His arms embracing the poor, His heart of love binding us together, His eyes envisioning life here and now and forevermore. And as we say “Yes” to being and becoming the Body of Christ, that is our gift back to Him.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.