John 19:16-30
John 19:16-18
So, the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Sermon Part 1
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Dear congregation,
‘It is finished!’ Jesus is cast out. He is banished from the holy city of Jerusalem. He is hung on the cross outside the city walls. Next to him are other criminals. ‘It is finished!’
Pilate is relieved. He may have thwarted an uprising.
The high priests are satisfied: no one will doubt their authority any time soon.
Yes, they have done it.
His followers are clearly shown that your teacher and master, your Jesus, does not belong in the city. He has no place in the centre of society. He is treated like a criminal. Jesus is dangerous. Jesus is taken out of the way. Everything special and extraordinary is taken away from him. He is like the other criminals. He is no different from everyone else.
This is a complete humiliation. Jesus is robbed of his identity. Nothing should remain of him. I was shocked by this hostility and animosity towards Jesus.
What has he done? He has preached and healed. He has called and invited people to follow him.
He had to carry his cross himself, without his companions and without his family.
What happens to him triggers fear and horror. No one understands what is happening. Their hope is taken from them before their very eyes.
Let us endure this image for a moment. That's what Good Friday is all about. Although we know and suspect that Easter Day will come and that the cross will not be the last image - let us endure it for a moment.
This is also the secret of faith: that despite the healing power of Jesus Christ, we still experience moments that overwhelm us and cause us fear.
Let us endure the helplessness. Let us feel our powerlessness. Let us bear witness to the fact that people who follow Jesus are labelled as criminals.
At this moment, we do not understand anything. Those who are around Jesus still have no revelation, no certainty, no explanation and no interpretation.
They are experiencing something that puts them in great uncertainty.
They are experiencing death. ‘It is finished!’
Song: EG 98, 1 Korn, das in die Erde / Kernel which falls into soil [ YouTube ]
Scripture Part 2 John 19:19-22
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Sermon Part 2:
‘It is finished!’
The painter Sieger Köder takes a look under the cross.
There are people there who do not yet know what to do next.
They have endured and persevered. Right to the end.
Their life stands still. They experience death.
They fold their hands. Some close their eyes, others look questioningly. They crouch close together. No one sees the other. No one turns towards the other. They stand together and yet they are alone. In their midst is death. In their midst is the cross. They hold on to it. They reach for the wood and want to understand. It is already clear that Jesus is caught between the wheels. He is torn between Herod and Pilate, between the high priests and the prefect.
Torn between the guardians of religion and the administrators of the state.
Jesus' humanity, his sincere love for his fellow human beings, his great vision of a just coexistence and a healthy society full of respect did not please the powerful of his time and they made him the victim of their power games. The chief priests and Pilate - after his death, it's the same story: who is more powerful? Who has more to say?
Pilate gets his way. He had already realised during the interrogation that he could not accuse Jesus of anything. He sacrificed him to the clamouring crowd. He lacked courage. Jesus had clearly told him that his kingdom was not of this world and yet Pilate was afraid of him.
Jesus has said that he is not interested in worldly rule. He did not want to take away the offices of either the high priest or Pilate.
And yet Jesus opened their eyes. One truth emanated from him: The truth that things can be different in the world. Both high priests and Pilate represent a world in which there is power and powerlessness. There are those who are considered important because of their offices or their wealth and there are those who appear unimportant.
Jesus had questioned that.
What goes through the minds and hearts of the few who stand with him under the cross? Are they even interested in the high priests or Pilate? Are they interested in themselves? Or are they filled with a deep compassion for Jesus?
Their mourning begins now: a time in which their whole lives are reorganised.
They stand still. They are in no hurry. They need time. They are together and yet they will each find their own way.
They are looking for answers to their questions and there will be different answers. They will give different meanings to what they experience here under the cross. Everyone will understand this death differently - but they will all find new life beyond the cross.
Song: EG 98, 2 Über Gottes Liebe / About God’s love
Scripture: Part 3 John 19:25-27
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Sermon Part 3
„It is finished!“
Jesus is still caring at the hour of his death. On behalf of everyone else, he uses the example of Mary and John to show that relationships change under the cross. His death changes the lives of those who remain.
A new, spiritual community is created. A family that comes into being in the name of Jesus Christ. A community in which being a mother and a father, a brother and a sister is not defined biologically, but through responsibility for one another and love for one another.
‘It is finished!’ The values of the world are turned upside down at the hour of death. It is in death that the community that endures through death, is revealed. It is under the cross that Jesus founds the church.
Look at the picture: The grain of wheat that dies and bears fruit. This is an image that John uses in his Gospel to explain the death of Jesus later on.
It is one of the images that I can really relate to.
For Sieger Köder, the compassionate painter and follower of Jesus Christ, the image is also an interpretation that makes sense. The grain of wheat must die if it is to bear fruit.
In its death and growth, it is accompanied by the love of God. There is an almost invisible, caring hand in the middle of the blue sky.
I can imagine that Jesus may have interpreted or would have interpreted his death in a similar way. In the Gospel of John in particular, Jesus Christ remains united with his Father in all his pain and suffering. And he reconnects people under the cross.
I make this interpretation of the cross my own: that something remains in death that can awaken to new life.
But there is no guarantee. Sowing is an act of hope. A lot can go wrong before the harvest. There is no guarantee that the seed will sprout. The probability is high. But it takes a moment full of trust, without ropes and double bottoms. A letting go and a surrender.
This is how Jesus gave himself. This is how Jesus died: With trust, but without certainty. With hope, but without certainty. With love, but alone.
Sieger Köder paints the growing grain. Even this wants and needs to be protected.
Neither in life nor in death do we have security. But we can allow ourselves to be touched by the trust of other people.
We can turn to each other - become and remain mother and father, sister and brother to one another.
This is how we fulfil what was given to us under the cross. Love grows like wheat!
Song: EG 98, 3 Im Gestein verloren / Lost in the rocks
Scripture Part 4 John 19:28-30
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.