Text: John 18—19
God
moves in mysterious ways.
I
often hear that from people dealing with of reversals of fortune in their
lives. Some wonder why they have cancer, and others do not. Some find their
lives suddenly shattered by job loss. Some are struggling with the loss of a
loved one. All of these uttered by people seeking comfort in situations they
did not choose, and would not have chosen if they could.
Yes,
God moves in mysterious ways.
I
hear it from others, dealing with other reversals of fortune. Sometimes the
death of a loved one turns into a time for family reconciliation. Sometimes the
loss of a job becomes an opportunity for a new vocation. Sometimes the
diagnosis of a dread disease becomes a time to learn what is most valuable in life.
Yes, God does move in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
On
Good Friday, we hear of God moving in the most mysterious way we can imagine.
His salvation is worked out through the most gruesome and shameful death the
state at that time could prepare for any criminal. God was at work throughout
the events of the Passion, working the greatest wonder imaginable.
It’s
not a tidy or a pleasant story, not the kind of salvation story a fantasy
fiction writer might give us. “Save me!” cries the heroine, and the white
knight rides in and carries her off into the sunset.
It’s
a story worked out through weak and fearful human beings, struggling to hold on
to what they have.
· Pilate, Governor by the emperor’s grace, wanting to
protect his job.
· The Jewish authorities, comfortable in their
privileges among the Jewish people, held under
· Peter and the other disciples, wanting to hold on to
their master…but also wanting to keep their lives.
It’s
a story of small choices making huge differences. Pilate could have chosen to
release Jesus. It made little difference to him, after he had decided Jesus was
no threat to the empire. But by that time the die had been cast, and God’s plan
was fully in action.
Jesus
chose to lay down his life, not because he was tired of it, but because it was
God’s will. It was his choice.
Many
choices combined to make this story:
· Judas could have said: “I can’t betray my Master.”
· The High Priest could have said: “You’re just another
teacher. Go home, and stop bothering us.”
· Pilate could have said: “You may not crucify this
innocent man.”
Yet
none of them did.
God’s
purpose is worked out by people making choices we may see as wrong, a purpose
that could not have been accomplished without these choices.
God
indeed works in mysterious ways!
We
all make choices. Many of our choices are the wrong ones: that’s what it means
to be human. God made us that way, in His image, capable of knowing right from
wrong, and free to choose.
The
story of Good Friday does not begin with the Last Supper, or with Jesus’
baptism, or his birth, or with the prophets of old, or even with Moses. The
story begins at the beginning, when God gave the human race free will, and we
first abused the gift.
In
the end, the final choice must be made by God’s Son, as he chooses to give up
his life on the cross, and brings this chapter of human history to a close.
“It
is finished!” he cried.
And
the next chapter is God’s.
