Following Death

Friday, April 6, 2007 -- Good Friday

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 956)
Psalms 95* & 22 (morning) 40:1-14 (15-19), 54 (evening)
* for the Invitatory
Wisdom 1:16 - 2:1, 12-22 or Genesis 22:1-14
(Wisdom is found in the Apocrypha)
1 Peter 1:10-20
John 13:36-38 (morning prayer)
John 19:38-42 (evening prayer)

[I read lesson from Wisdom and both John readings]

The readings from John frame the passion of Christ. We begin with Peter's confident good intentions to follow Christ, even to lay down his life for him. "Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times." Jesus knows, we know: Peter will fail. We are all Peter.

After the damage is done -- Jesus has been convicted, tortured, and brutally executed with public humiliation -- two men of status come forward. Up until now they have been afraid to risk open association with Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea had been a secret disciple. Now he petitions Pilate for possession of the dead body of Jesus. It is a bold and risky request. Nicodemus had come to Jesus under cover of darkness to have a dialogue about being born from above. He had spoken up on behalf of Jesus unsuccessfully in the Sanhedrin. He brings an extravagant quantity of spices for wrapping the body.

Each of these three -- Peter, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus -- has his own experience of crucifixion and resurrection.

At the crucial moment, Peter fails the most important person in his life. He denies Jesus three times. It is the kind of failure that can break a person. When his companion Judas discover the consequences of his failure, he could not live with himself. Peter might have reacted in the same way. Later, when Peter learns of the appearance of the risen Lord, he could have been frozen with such guilt and shame that he might have been afraid or unable to respond to such a possibility.

Instead, Peter is humble enough to encounter the risen Jesus and to allow the Lord to ask him three times, "Peter, do you love me?" Three times -- with painful memory of his denials, no doubt -- he affirms, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He is commissioned to tend and feed Jesus' lambs. Peter experiences resurrection. He is healed.

Nicodemus and Joseph are powerful men. Nicodemus sits on the ruling Jewish Sanhedrin. Joseph is wealthy, and he has enough standing with the governor Pilate that he could ask for and receive the remains of a condemned capital criminal. According to the accounts, each of them has been drawn to Jesus. Each of them wanted to respond faithfully to something that they experienced in his being and in his ministry. But they guarded their privileges. They did not risk too much in their association with Jesus. When conflict accelerated, they either did not or could not use their power and influence to save Jesus from this tragedy.

Each of them might have been so overwhelmed with remorse or failure or impotence that each might have become stuck in their own darkness. Or they might have become fearful, seeing that the one they work attracted to has been ousted as an enemy of the state and the religion. They might have shrunk away relieved that they had not been caught up as victims of the vengeance of the day. Neither of them has lived up to his highest ideals. The whole project of Jesus is a failure. They could have cut their losses and backed away.

Instead, each of these men uses some of their power and substance to do what they can after the fact. They provide for a decent, respectful burial. It is a good thing to do. It will be enough. They will be remembered forever.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

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