Sermon Good Friday 2016

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

That is the question for us, Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  The easy answer is, of course not; that happened two thousand years ago.  The difficult answer is, well, not so easy is it.  Perhaps I should restate it, “Where would you have been if you had been there when they crucified my Lord”?  Where would I have been on that darkest of dark Good days? 

Would I have been one of the crowd who had a few short days before shouting Hosanna in the highest to the king and are now calling out to Pilot, Crucify, Crucify Him? 

Would I have been a Roman soldier who just followed orders and flogged Jesus relentlessly; after all he was an insurrectionist rabble rouser and we have to make sure that revolutions are nipped in the bud?   

Would I have volunteered to carry his cross and stepped in to that role in place of Simon of Cyrene?  Someone had to do it—after all he had been so violently flogged that he could not carry it himself. 

Would I have been the soldier who nailed his hands and his feet to that terrible means of execution that became for us a symbol of willing sacrifice? 

Would I have been with the disciples who denied Jesus and run away in fear?

Would I have been the one who pierced his side?

Would I have been the centurion who proclaimed, "Truly this man was God’s son”.

Would I have even been one of the one’s at the foot of the cross who stayed with him? 

To be honest I don’t know —none of us can know that for sure.  However, I have my suspicions.  Do I stand against the crowd when there is discrimination against a minority?  Do I always give to the beggar on the street when asked for some spare change?  Do I laugh when someone makes an off colour joke about a Gay or Lesbian person?  Do I give consistently to the local food bank?  Have I been persecuted for righteousness sake?  Have people reviled me and uttered all kinds of evil against me falsely on Jesus’ account?  Have I fed the hungry?  Am I now rich and have received my consolation on this earth?  Have I visited prisoners?  Have I loved my neighbour as myself?  Have I loved my enemies?   When someone strikes me on the cheek do I turn the other one? If someone takes my possessions do I ask for them back?   Do I go the second mile? 

Where would I have been when they crucified my Lord?  Where would you have been?  Amen