Presented at Sudbury Clergy Association’s Ecumenical Good Friday Service at the Martha Mary Chapel at the Historic Wayside Inn, Friday, March 29, 2013.
Scripture reading: John 19:31-42
Seeing this Cross laid out here behind me, I am reminded of my visit last year to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the focal point of the events that take place in our reading from the Gospel of John, and the site of the central narrative of our faith, which we remember in this Good Friday service and on Easter: the story of Christ’s death and resurrection.
As you enter that Church, above and to your right, up a flight of stairs, is Calvary, the site of the Crucifixion. To the left, what would be behind me and deeper into the church, is the tomb. So, on one side is the place where our sin cost the life of our Savior; and on the other, the spot where he was resurrected by the Grace of God. Man’s Sin sent him to his death, and God’s grace brought him back, but what ties the two together? How do we bridge the gulf between man’s sin and God’s grace?
The Here and the Hereafter 