Good Friday

At the end of a particularly rowdy Year 10 commerce class our teacher had finally got us quiet when one of the boys made a particularly loud flatulent sound. “Who was that?” the teacher demanded. No one owned up. “You’re all staying in for 5 minutes at lunchtime” he exploded. We collectively groaned. “Ten minutes” he said, to which we all fell silent. After two interminable minutes Brett put up his hand and said “I didn’t do it sir, but can I take a punishment so that all the class can go?”. “Nice offer” said the teacher, “but no”.

Brett’s offer to take punishment for the whole class still stands out for me thirty years later. It was such a rare thing to do- for an individual to take on a burden for the good of the whole. It is a stark contrast to the underlying principle of western liberal capitalism: that society as a whole does best when we act as individuals competing to satisfy our own needs. We are so well schooled in seeking individual happiness that a sacrifice like Brett’s stands out.

But there are cultures where there is a greater sense that the actions of the one impact the many. Aboriginal Australians and traditional African cultures have that higher context. Jewish culture at the time of Jesus had it. We hear the words of the prophet Isaiah today which describe a suffering servant who will take on the burden for the whole people, and whose suffering would bring relief and redemption to others:

He was pierced for our faults,

crushed for our sins

on him lies the punishment that brings us peace.

Jesus undoubtably knew this scripture passage, and it would have shaped his understanding of what his mission, and ultimately his death would be about. So Jesus intended his death, which he did not shirk, to be a sacrifice for all of humanity. His description of his blood sealing a new covenant, that is, a new epoch of humanity’s relationship with God, showed that he expected his death to have cosmic ramifications.

Jesus endured all that we have just heard, for us. For our sins.

It might be difficult for us with our modern western mindset to grasp this. It’s also difficult for us to have a sense there is any sacrifice needed for our sins. You’re probably a pretty good person. I think I am too. You probably try not to hurt anyone. And your sins, like you were mean to your sister or you said a few swear words hardly seem like anything that someone would need to die for.

But you might recognise some of the bigger sins of the world: the poverty and violence. The children in working in Asian sweatshops. The peasant farmers driven off their land in South America. The civil wars in Africa for control of precious minerals. War in the Middle East. Environmental degradation.

And it’s all because of you. and me. The supply chains of the world all lead to your table. All of the world’s economic structures are geared up to provide a reliable source of products for consumers in first world countries like Australia. So that you and I never have to go to Coles and wonder if there will be bananas today. If a cyclone wipes out the Australian crop we will just outbid our poor Asian neighbours and buy theirs. Children work in Bangladeshi sweatshops so that you and I can buy $5 Tshirts and throw them out when they get a hole. Wars continue in Congo and Rwanda over control of Coltan which is our phones, our TVs and our computers.

You might not have pulled the trigger or driven the bulldozer, but we are inextricably linked to the greatest acts of violence, the greatest sins of the world. We are its consumers.

So there is sin that you and I need forgiveness for, redemption from. Each of us is connected to the whole of humanity. And Jesus offered his life in sacrifice for all the world. There is a line drawn from Jesus who endured torture and death 2000 years ago, to us here in this church.

You might imagine that Brett all those years ago received a lot of gratitude from us, his classmates, for offering to take the punishment for us. It would have been all the more so if the teacher had have accepted his offer and let us all go.

That same gratitude should be what we feel for Jesus, who endured the punishment for us, paying with not one lunchtime detention but with his whole life. We will soon have the opportunity to make an act of adoration, worship and  gratitude to Jesus when we venerate the cross.

Perhaps just one question remains: did Jesus’ sacrifice make a difference? Did God accept Jesus’ life on behalf of all humanity? Or did he, like my old teacher say “nice offer, but no thanks”?

As Jesus’ broken, battered body was lowered from the cross that Friday afternoon there was no way of knowing. The answer would come, but we had to wait. The answer came three days later on that first Easter morning.