Bethlehem: Rev Munther Isaac Good Friday Sermon 2024

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Today we commemorate the arrest, trial and torture of Jesus Christ, and his execution on the cross of the occupation of the Roman Empire. What a cruel scene of steel, and even more ugly. "He has no image and no beauty, so we look at him... We cover our faces from him". There is torture, slow death, and pain.

In the cross, injustice, contempt and oppression are manifested --- those who reject it and are ruled out of fear of their throne were oppressed, and those who occupy, dominate, and glorify the earth and humans in order to pursue it. Oppression is because of the one you abandoned, betrayed, sold, and denied. Oppression when we ask: how did you allow this Lord? Why must Jesus remain hanging on the cross? Why is it not coming down? How do you remain silent before the cries of ridicule and murmurs?

The Friday of pains has come upon us, and our land is in pain and sorrow, and is ravaged by death, displacement and destruction. Our people in Gaza are suspended between the earth and the sky, dying a slow death. They ridicule and curse them, and put it all in front of the world. Today we cover our faces from the scenes of death in Gaza. About the shapes of children. About bodies found in the streets. No picture of them so look at them.

We have kept this rubble in our church since birth, because Gaza is still under rubble, because our people in Gaza and our children are still getting high from under rubble. Who would have thought that Easter would come and Gaza would still be destroyed in such a horrible way. Today we entered a new phase of the extermination war, in which we are killed by hunger, thirst and disease. I was very hurt today from the cruel scene of a child under the rubble, who miraculously survived the bombing, and while being high he was saying, "Where is the water, I am thirsty." "

On the cross Jesus cried: I am thirsty, in solidarity with those who are being perished by famine and siege. He stands in solidarity with all the victims of the wars and famines, caused by the oppressive and authoritarian regimes in our world. It is the cry of every oppressed of the injustice of humanity, its silence and inability to put an end to tyranny and injustice.

And while Jesus was hanging on the cross, they ridiculed him, cursed him, and challenged him to come down from the cross, as they mock today and show us scenes of their murmuring, as they tear Gaza neighborhood after neighborhood, house after house, and child after child.

And the darkest universe. The universe is saddened by the absence of truth - is it reasonable to execute and torture the one who is the purest and most righteous people? The universe is so dark in the absence of justice. Is it sensible to condemn and judge those who have no deceit in their mouth? A pure Obeisance ? Who loves the enemy and forgives the transgressors?

The universe is saddened today by the silence of decision makers, and their racism. In the absence of those who say the word of truth, fearing for themselves and their interests, armed with the blood of neutrality and silence, under the name of peace and reconciliation. The universe is grieving for those who called for fire to come down from heaven and destroy a people and cities, so that "the chosen ones defend themselves," as we understand it!

Women cried him out. Interpretation of mercy, miraculous divine intervention that puts an end to this tragedy. Today we are hoping for a decision that allows the introduction of aids! Please whoever says the word of truth and justice. We hope who rules, judges and judges. Even the voices of truth are silencing, rejecting and fighting its legitimacy with a disgusting supremacy. The voices of the truth today call out and shout without answering, as the women of Jerusalem cried and wailed for Jesus, and as they cried out with their precious tears the justice of heaven. Yes, today there are those who inherit and mourn with us, in the streets and international courts. There are those who stand in solidarity with Gaza, the warlords must respond! May their conscience wake up!

We looking for God in this war. We always cry out to him, and he doesn't answer, while we see the Son of God hanging on the cross shouting, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" "Why did you let me be crucified?" Am I being tortured ? And am I not guilty ?

In this earth, even God is a victim of cowardice, death, machine of war and colonization. He suffers with the people of this land, shares with them the same fate. "My God my God why did you leave me. "It is a cry that has been echoed for hundreds of years on this earth. It is a cry renewed in the words of our poet Samih Al-Qasim, in his influential poem "I am sorry", and he quoted some of what he said in it:

To Allah I raise my eyes / I raise my heart and suffice me / O Lord / I am sad / and the orphan exhausted me / The fire destroyed my plants and my fields / I cried / and I turned my face / to the light of your throne / O Lord .. People came to me / paths were blocked in front of me / I pleaded, I prayed with my supplication / and water springs were opened...

I'm so naughty / and my robe is worn out / the cold of the blues is cruel / and the freedom of abandonment is so disgusting / I'm so sad / and the soldier kicks me out of the door of my house / and I wish my life with my death ...

O my God, there is no god but You / My pasture was stagnant with the poisonous grass / My sheep died on my arm / And my well they poured rocks on it / And a fig I damaged it / And an olive they swept it / And a palm tree they swept it away / And a lemon they slaughtered it / And a mint they dried it / As a punishment ...

My father's country has become a cemetery / The houses of the believers are buried / The gardens of the believers are deserted / Their schools are denied / And their sorrows are a rainy darkness / My God / My God and there is no other god but You... My Lord, my torment is long and harsh and unfortunate/ And you are forgiving, merciful and fair/ My Lord, my Lord, I am sorry/ I am sorry, my Lord, my Lord I am sorry

These words describe our reality today. It is the cry of our land that echoes through the years. She is the cry of every oppressed hanging in a slow death. It is a cry Jesus shared with us in his pain, suffering and suffering. Today we put the cross on the ruins, remembering that Jesus shared the same fate with us, he crucified the colonial victim on the cross. Arrested, tortured, sentenced, crucified. Our pain ached, our screams screamed, and suffered hunger and thirst like us. On the cross Jesus shouted "I am thirsty". It is the cry of Gaza people today. Gaza is thirsty for water, food, life and justice.

Yes, Jesus on the cross today amidst the ruins of Gaza. Suffering with the despised. Jesus on the cross with the abandoned around the world, victim of racism and authoritarian regimes. Jesus is crucified today unjustly and unjustly... Amongst the rubble.
Why all this for ? In the cross, God united with mankind in its pain, not out of love or glorification in pain, but to redeem us from pain, and to rise with Him in His resurrection. Christ was crucified and on his way to resurrection. He faced death believing that his Heavenly Father is able to raise him from death, and thus brings salvation to all mankind. Here is his true power. His faith in his Father's will, and his ability to raise him from death.

And it's all for the sake of love. In the cross love was manifested---He loved us to the end and gave Himself up for those he loved. Jesus accepted the cross because he wanted our redemption and salvation. He accepted the cross because he loves us. Accept death voluntarily not hatred. So which kind of love is this?

Jesus suffered for us and died for us, let us live with him. Jesus cried pain with us, that we may be comforted in the resurrection. Jesus experienced loneliness and pain, let us experience God's love and presence in our lives. Abandoned Himself from glory and accepted pain and death, to sit with Him in the presence of the Father. Pain wasn't meant for pain, the cross is a station on the way to resurrection. It is a means, not an end, to see love, and to live.

This is how we understand the verse: If a seed of a seed does not fall on the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Christ's death and pain opened our way to the Father... To the Eternity... Where there is no death, no sorrow, no sickness, no pain.

And the poet said: The grain of a squirrel dies, the valley will be filled with snapples. I repeat: Gaza will rise, and rise from its rubble. And her children's blood will not go in vain. Here is the endurance of our people, and here we look at Christ the endurance with us and in us. Who is stronger: Rome, or the one whom Rome executed on the cross and cried "forgive them"? Herod and Pilate, or who faced them with his faith, determination, steadfastness and power of his greed? Qiafa and the Pharisees or the one they blasphemed and ruled because he called love and is higher than human value?

Today and a thousand years later, by carrying the cross we are defeated and ridiculed by the empire and its gods. We took the symbol of the Gabrot of Rome and what it insulted others, and made it a symbol of our strength, victory and endurance in the face of death. Yes we will. Let's face our reality with the faith of the resurrection, and that sorrow and death in Christ are only our way to Sunday dawn, where there is no oppression, no occupation, no racism, no war, no hunger, no thirst, no disease, no cancer, no tears, no poverty, no oppression... But a life with God In the cross, love conquered death. In the cross love conquered death. Amen.

Revd Dr Munther Isaac, is pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.

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