Overshadowed

The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

April 19, 2019

Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Psalm 22

Hebrews 10:16-25

John 18:1-19:42

Overshadowed

            Ever since human beings turned away from God – ever since we somehow thought that we could do it our way – that we could somehow hide from God – our lives have been overshadowed.

            Human life has been overshadowed by hatred and greed and cruelty – the shadows that lead to death – the shadows that led to the violent deaths of 14 Jersey City residents since last Good Friday – the 14 brothers and sisters represented by the shirts we carried through the streets this morning and that are now hanging outside our church tonight.

            Over human history, at different times and in different places, these shadows have lengthened and shortened.

            And, the truth is, that although there have been plenty of shadows, here in the Western world during the decades since World War II, it seemed like maybe at least some of the old shadows would be finally permanently brightened – permanently brightened by tolerance – tolerance for people who looked and believed and loved differently than us.

            That’s what many of us were taught and came to believe, right?

            But, it turns out that tolerance just isn’t strong enough to cast out shadows – only love can do that.

            And, so in our own time and place, many of the old shadows have returned with a vengeance: greed and fear and violence and hatred are once again overshadowing us.

            Out of all of these old shadows, I have to say that the one I find most discouraging is anti-Semitism – hatred and fear of the Jews is on the rise around the world among the Right and the Left – attacks against Jews have risen dramatically even in places with huge Jewish populations like Crown Heights.

            And, today on Good Friday, this is the old shadow we have to face because for so long Christians either willfully or conveniently forgot that Jesus lived and died as a faithful Jew and that all of his first friends and followers were Jews.

            And, after listening to the passage I just read from the Gospel of John, you can understand how that could happen, right?

            Christians forgot that God has never and will never break the covenant with the Jewish people - that, while we certainly don’t believe all the same things, they are our elder brothers and sisters in faith.

            For so long we forgot – but now we must recall that what we remember today is a Jewish tragedy – Jesus was a victim not of the Jewish people, but was instead killed by a religious establishment that valued the institution far above the life of some rabbi from Galilee – Jesus was the victim of a Roman Empire that had no patience for any troublemakers.

            Although tonight we focus on one cross, the truth is that two thousand years ago Jerusalem was overshadowed by thousands of crosses, each one a horrifying reminder not to mess with Rome.

            So, the shadows that overtook Jesus are barely worth remembering and mentioning – after all, he was killed just like thousands of his fellow countrymen – after all, his suffering was no worse than the pain endured by millions and millions of people before and since.

No, this tragedy is hardly worth talking about - except, of course, that it’s Jesus.

            What we remember on this day that we ironically call “good” is that God – God who is pure light and love was willing to enter the deepest shadows of human life.

            God was willing to be overshadowed by human sinfulness – God was willing to experience the worst - despair and forsakenness - all to show us the way to new life.

            And, what God did in Jerusalem on that most shadowy day two thousand years ago is the supreme example of what God does all the time.

            God enters our shadows and shines light.

            And that’s what God invites us to do for one another.

            So, that’s why this morning we carried the cross and those 14 shirts to places of violence just a few blocks from here, places overshadowed by a callous disregard of the preciousness of human life – that’s why we walked those streets and stood on those corners – that’s why we visited some places that the world might dismiss as God-forsaken and that even we may have found uncomfortably shadowy.

But, we went there because if God is willing to be overshadowed, then we should be willing to be overshadowed, too.

God enters the shadows of our lives and shines light – shines love - and that is the only force strong enough to finally drive out the shadows.

But, for now, in our own time of deepening shadows, we sit at the foot of the cross, remembering Jesus the Son of God who was overshadowed by hate and fear.

We sit here overshadowed, but also knowing that this is not the end of the story for Jesus – and it’s also not the end of the story for us.