Good Friday
Texts: John 18–19;
Isa 52:13–53:12
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bh72zaAe6mE
PowerPoint Slides
THE WOOD BETWEEN THE WORLDS
“Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Creator and the reigning Messiah Jesus. Amen”
Slide 2
I would like for us to focus for a few minutes on the conversation between Jesus and Pilate we just heard read. It seems to clearly differentiate between two very different kinds of kingdom. There’s the typical human type of kingdom, characterized by what? Fighting, says Jesus. He’s correct, right? Have you ever known a human government that doesn’t rely on armed soldiers and police forces?
Then there’s implied this other kind of kingdom which comes from somewhere else other than the human world which Jesus, we already know, was sent to save. ‘For God so loved the world that God sent the Son to save it’ (John 3:16-17). But as Jesus stands before the representative of typical human empire, about to be condemned to death, what kind of kingdom is Jesus representing? As Messiah, apparently it will be a kingdom from God that is established, not by dishing out violence, but by suffering it in love. A kingdom that comes into the world by suffering violence rather than inflicting it? Who’s heard of that? What kind of kingdom is that?! That’s why Jesus is trying to be clear that the kingdom he was sent to establish is not from our world.
Two kingdoms, from two different worlds. That’s what Jesus not only hints to Pilate about, but then he also makes happen through dying on the cross. One kind of kingdom — already around for centuries of our human history — depends on dishing out the violence. The other kingdom, which is established by suffering the violence in love, is about to come into this wider world created by God — and it’s a reign from that Creator God, and it’s through the cross.
Slide 3
One of my favorite preachers and authors is Brian Zahnd, and he wrote a book about the cross titled The Wood between the Worlds.1 That’s what we experience on this Holy Day. A piece of wood that appears to be a portal between two worlds. Now, throughout most of history, that piece of wood has been primarily known as a particular instrument of death. It was a portal, if you will, for that person to leave this world in death. But in this one spectacular case, which makes this Friday Good, this piece of wood has somehow come to represent a portal to life, because Jesus dying on it has transformed this wood into a portal between the worlds. Between our typical human worlds that dish out so much death . . . and God’s world which yields not death but endless life. Because this time, we believe, that piece of wood known as a cross bore the Author of life itself. John’s Gospel begins by portraying Jesus as the Word, with a capital W, which created life from the very beginning (John 1:1-18). And as Pastor Matt talked about last night, that word is Love.2 By suffering our human violence in love, the cross of Jesus the Messiah has opened a portal to God’s realm of endless life. Those who have faith in this doorway can follow Jesus through it, so to speak, when their life on this earth is done. That’s the portal we Christians have celebrated with gusto since the first Easter.
But I want to raise another possibility tonight — one I think we have mostly forgotten about — namely, that the portal of the cross, this wood between the worlds, goes both ways. In fact, I think the Gospel of John, and the other Gospels were mostly interested in the cross as a portal in the other direction. In other words, the cross is also a portal for God’s world, God’s reign, to enter into our human worlds. The Gospels talk all about Jesus himself proclaiming the coming of God’s reign into the world. So I propose to you tonight that what today and Easter are all about is much more than simply having a doorway for us into God’s endless power of life when we die — as amazing and marvelous and wonderful as that is. Perhaps even bigger for these Three Days are also about the wood between the worlds working the other way, too. The cross and resurrection are also the portal of God’s reign coming into the world of our human reigns to begin to transform them towards life rather than death — precisely by suffering our typical deadly violence on the cross.
Slide 4
Here’s what I see as the bad news, however. I think the cross as a two-way portal means we have some repenting to do. Because the church’s alliance with empire over the past 15 centuries or so has tended to ignore the cross as a portal of God’s reign coming into the world. Which makes sense, because why? Because God’s reign directly challenges our reigns based on violence and injustice. So we’ve conveniently accepted the singular focus on the cross solely as a portal into God’s power of endless life. It’s only been recently that I think we’ve begun to see more bold examples of Christians having faith in the cross as a portal in that other direction. They’ve always been there, but they’re becoming more prominent again. Namely, as a portal of God’s reign challenging us to make our human reigns better — to be more just by being more life-giving to everyone.
What does it take to be able to see the cross as a portal in that other direction? It would take learning to read the Bible in a renewed way, for one thing, because the Good News of God’s reign intruding on our worlds is really all there, if we have eyes to see. But we obviously don’t have time to do that tonight. Instead, I’d like to simply conclude by juxtaposing some images.
Slide 5
The first is a painting by Frank Dicksee in 1900.3 I think he captures the situation of the church allied with human empire, which we sometimes to refer to as “Christendom” — or the current version that calls itself “Christian Nationalism.” Follow the eyes of the king on a war horse. Do you see him gazing at the other king? The one in upper right-hand corner who’s on a cross and wearing a crown of thorns? What is the look on the face of the king wearing a jeweled crown? Surprised? Confused? Unsettled? Do you suppose he might intuit that this other king challenges his authority? But not with a violent army, but instead by suffering our typical human violence in love? [Pause this slide for about 5 seconds before moving to the next.]
Slide 6
Does this photo depict that, in our more recent history, we have begun to imagine the cross again as a portal for God’s reign coming into the world? Pilate vs Jesus? The two kingdoms facing off? Could this be a glimpse of what the clash between the two kingdoms looks like in our recent history? [Pause this slide for 5 seconds.]
Slide 7
Finally, does this portray the Beloved Community John talks about in his Gospel? Can we begin to glimpse what God’s reign might look like in our lived history? I leave you pondering that last question: “What would that look like right now?” As there is once again an increase in violence all around us, how might these Three Days of experiencing the cross and resurrection open our eyes to the possibilities of new life for our world right now? For the world which God so loved that God sent the Son to save it? As we celebrate on Sunday God’s victory over death, does it include more than the promise of life for us as individuals? Can we celebrate God’s reign of conquering death to include engaging the forces of death so typical to our human reigns of violence? Tonight we ponder the biggest mystery of all, the mystery of the wood between worlds: that God vanquishes all the powers of death precisely by suffering the sin of our violence in love. Love! The power of life itself! How might we participate more fully in that power of life right now, in this time and place, for the sake of this broken world that God so loves? Amen
Paul J. Nuechterlein
Living Faith Lutheran Church,
Racine, WI, April 18, 2025
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bh72zaAe6mE
PowerPoint Slides
Notes
1. Brian Zahnd, The Wood between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross (InterVarsity Press, 2024).
2. A reference to five ELCA congregations in Racine sharing four services together for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Pastor Matt James preached on love the night before at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. This evening Good Friday service was being hosted Bethania and Living Faith at Living Faith.
3. Zahnd, The Wood, 90. The idea for using this picture is one thing I used, in addition to the title, from Brian Zahnd’s book (above).
