Sermon - 2015-04-03 - Good Friday

Every year, we gather together to hear the truth of this account of Jesus being among us.  However, there are so many people, so many personalities and so many people whom we can learn from.  I would like to focus upon the Chief Priests.  Now let me remind all of you that the Chief Priests were appointed members of the community to lead and guide the whole people in following what God was calling them to do and be.  They were in charge of operating the Holy Temple and ensuring that everyone who attended was able to be a part of the holiday.  

The chief priests were the spiritual leaders and the ones whom all people went to for direction and understand of what God was doing in the world.  However, the chief priests did not see and did not want to see what God was truly doing in the world.  They were so focused on the traditions and rituals that bound them in the glory and honor that was associated with God that they actually took it upon themselves.  

However, today, within the Gospel of Mark, we hear the chief priests ridiculing, mocking and taunting Jesus.  They are reciting all the claims that Jesus spoke to the people.  Yet they do not see God fulfilling them.  They want Jesus to show them the power of God and yet they do not see the power of God right before them. The chiefs priests are looking to the cross and bearing witness to all that God is doing among them and for them.  However, they do not realize that it was on the cross that God was doing for the work not for the people in front of them but for all people.  

It’s ironic really, they look upon the cross and do not see God.  In fact sometimes when we look at life, it is when we feel like we are going backwards or in a different direction. God is at work there. May our hearts, our minds and our lives, always be open to God’s calling in the world.