God Stands in the Unbearable
Good Friday calls out to us to realize the significance of this event. The death of Jesus on the cross is not an end, nor is it an undue focus on suffering. It is the ultimate understanding and act of love.
It is the ultimate proclamation that peace is possible.
When someone tells you that peace is possible, it matters where they are speaking from. Peace is not the absence of conflict, or darkness or difficulty. Peace is the ability to say that such a thing exists when there is darkness or difficulty.
Gustavo Gutierrez says that the only way to proclaim peace is to stand in the middle of suffering.
That is how we know that peace is actually a possibility, not to stand far off and offer some form of peace. But to get into the middle of it and still see that it is possible.
If Jesus had stayed in Heaven and sent down a message saying peace is possible, we would believe Him on our best days but grow bitter on our worst. Because on our worst day, all the reserves run dry, and all the margins grow thin. We don’t have anything left. And when someone from a distance who has not experienced what we are experiencing tells us that it’s ok, we become bitter. All that is being offered is a platitude. And nothing makes us more angry than platitudes.
But Good Friday reminds the Christian that Christ doesn’t offer platitudes. He isn’t telling us to “hang in there.” Or “too blessed to be depressed,” or “God’s got this”. Christ shows us peace is possible by standing in the middle of suffering. By standing in the middle of death itself.
We are called to take inventory of the darkness. To lean into what isn’t right in order to see what is (Rutledge 2018).
Jesus is crucified like this:
32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews. (Lk 23:32–38, ESV).
These words remind us that peace is possible. Not when things are great. In the difficult places.
The cross does not diminish despair or anxiety or depression or suffering. It takes it more seriously. It stands in the middle of despair and anxiety and proclaims peace (Casewell 2021, 151).
We have a God who stands in the middle of the unbearable.
Christ standing in death shows us the inescapable tension of living in the world and desiring eternity. To be a Christian, then, is not to not despair; it is to take it with the utmost seriousness, but in doing so, find a way through. Because the God who died is the God we can understand in atrocity and horror of life, despair is never final. This is where we can look to no other place than the cross. The cross doesn’t explain suffering but is shows that life can come from it.
The cross is the reminder that we don’t have to run and flee from those things. That the cross takes the darkness in the world very seriously. The temptation, when having to face these things is to run away or pretend they don’t exist. But Christ’s death on the cross reminds us that darkness does exist, but that there is the reality of life on the other side of it. That is the pursuit that leads us to Easter morning.
Casewell, Deborah. 2021. Eberhard Jüngel and Existence: Being Before the Cross (Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology). Routledge; 1st edition.
Rutledge, Fleming. 2018. Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ. Eerdmans.
