Praying for the Life of the World – 15 April 2022 – Good Friday

Good Friday is a day of darkness. It is a day that appears to be hopeless. There is brokenness and loss. When I read the story of the passion I think of the people in the world who experience brokenness and loss, especially those whose lives are broken to the extent that they cannot see beyond their brokenness.

Many in our society live with addictions of many kinds and struggle on a daily basis with those addictions, or who are plagued with mental illness and the darkness hovers without a hint of light. There are those who lived in silence with their brokenness until they ended their own life. And, of course, there are many others who are broken in so many different ways and whose names we will never know, but whose families continue to try to move forward in life.

Yes, it is a day of darkness. It is a day when we tremble for all those who are broken and need the support of the faith community. We can tremble as we pray for all those who are broken because it is hard to see or to know that our brothers and sisters struggle in darkness. –– Virginia S. Wendel

John 18:1––19:42

The passion story told on this day is in three parts: the arrest of Jesus, the trial before Pilate, and his passion, death, and burial. Through it all Jesus has a serenity rooted in awareness of his divine purpose that allows his calm response to those who arrest him (“I AM he”— three times), to the high priest (“If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong”), to Pilate (“You say I AM”).

As Jesus moves toward the cross, we are far past being able to be fair-weather disciples. Peter, finding himself alone, with no other disciples to observe his denial, in his moment of truth, cannot make a testimony of belief. To the question, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” Peter responds, “I am not”. . .

As we gather on Good Friday moving toward the cross, we seek to honor the One who gave himself up for us and our salvation. We confront whether we, too, might deny him. We are left to cry, “Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal One, have mercy upon us” (from the Good Friday solemn reproaches). –– Sara Webb Phillips

Isaiah 52:13––53:12

This account of the suffering servant is told from the amazed perspective of those who have benefited from the suffering. Who would have ever thought that the Lord’s power would be revealed in weakness and humiliation? Especially for the benefit of the guilty, “the suffering of one can be the source of redemption for another” (Bergant and Fragomeni, Preaching the New Lectionary [Liturgical Press, 2000] 139). –– Sara Webb Phillips

Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9

Verses 14–15 acknowledge Jesus as the great high priest who knows our limitations, yet does not limit us from access to God. Verses 7–9 remind us that even Jesus learned, as all humans do, acceptance of God’s will through suffering. Jesus experienced our human condition, and he understood our desire to escape it. –– Sara Webb Phillips

Sara Webb Phillips is a United Methodist minister serving Grace UMC in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a former co-editor of the journal Liturgy published quarterly by The Liturgical Conference.

Homily Service 43, no. 2 (2009): 69–78.