Where would we have been that day? Would we have raised our fists in anger or shouted out to stop the mob rule that killed Jesus and yet, would we? Good people, innocent people die daily in our world and most of us have not put our lives on the line for them. What difference would our efforts make, really? What can one person do?

We hope we wouldn’t have been like those who cried, "Crucify Him!" but we were reminded this week of the 800,000 Rwandans who died ten years ago. Neither the international community nor the government that represents us intervened to stop the killings. We were aware at the time. We saw the news reports. Do you suppose that the Tutsis and the moderate Hutus interpreted our silence as support for the killers? Why didn’t we intervene as we have done in other hot spots of the world? Would we have intervened for Jesus?

We hope we wouldn’t have acted as Pilate did. Luke depicted him as without backbone and confused about what he should do, trying to delicately balance the wishes of the local people with the demands of the Roman government. Yet, situations arise in our lives each day when we need to choose between our loyalty to God and our loyalty to this world – how to spend our money and how to spend our time. Those choices usually affect the lives of others. When we buy some of our favorite products – sports shoes, t-shirts, coffee beans, table fruit or wine from California grapes – how many times do we think about the hands and the lives of those who picked them or sewed them together for us to wear? When we choose between spending our time in recreation or offering service to another, how do we balance the needs – our needs against the needs of another? Luke said that, "Though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were reconciled that same day." Crucifying Jesus served a purpose for both of them. May we avoid the simplest route and carefully weigh the affect of our decision upon others.

There are times when we feel like the Daughters of Jerusalem, weeping, weeping. Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children." But we weep for Jesus and for ourselves. We weep for him, as he died on the cross, aware of the torture that he experienced. We also weep for those who have died recently in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Rwanda, in the United States and we weep for their loved ones left behind. It is hard not to weep, not to feel paralyzed when we know of the pain that people around the world experience today, hard not to lose hope and wonder where is God in this world of ours?

On that Holy Friday, would we have been like the soldiers mocking Jesus? Surely not... After all we are people of faith…and yet, what thoughts go through our minds when we see someone hungry or homeless or hear of someone losing their job or dying of cancer? Do we truly put ourselves in their shoes as Jesus did? Do we identify with them and walk with them or do we make judgments, conscious or subconscious, and distance ourselves, fearful that the condition might be catching? It is often difficult to admit that we too are vulnerable.

Many of us can identify with Jesus’ disciples epitomized by the character of Peter. On that terrible Friday, we might have just wanted to fade into the grove of olive trees, not be associated with him out of fear and uncertainty, wanting to protect ourselves from a similar fate. Disappearing shelters us from ridicule. Why argue for youth sports teams to practice at times other than during worship? With only 5-6 % of families involved in faith congregations, why stick our necks out to appear odd in Marin and embarrass our children who are struggling to establish their peer groups? Take a family mission trip together to help refugee families when most local people are vacationing in Hawaii or Mexico or Europe? Don’t be silly! A check can easily be written to the Refugee Ministry after returning home. Someone else can do the hands-on stuff. Be a whistle-blower at work, when customers or stockholders are getting the shaft from some clever money managers? It is not really our business. Easier not to get involved.

The truth is that we all crucify Jesus day after day in the ways we interact with God made flesh in each other. When we think about it, as we do especially on Holy Friday, it does make us weep as Peter did. We struggle with the choices we make. We sympathize with Paul when he said, "I do the things I don’t mean to do and I don’t do the things that I mean to do." (Romans 7:19). A seminary classmate of mine, Kris Haig, tells a story of sitting in a quiet chapel one day when stresses that she couldn’t solve in her life and world were boiling over within her. She said, "My young daughter looked into my pain-filled eyes and simply reached over and took my hand, never looking away from me." Kris understood that simple act of compassion as the very presence of God reminding her that she was not alone in her struggles, that she was loved and accepted, forgiven and precious in God’s eyes.

So today we come to the cross. We are invited to admit our weaknesses, to ask forgiveness and to know that we are received as God’s beloved children. God reaches out to hold your hand. Take a few quiet moments to open your heart to God who is reaching for you. Then, I invite you if you wish to come forward, kneel at the cross and offer your prayer. When you are ready, depart in silence to return in celebration of the empty tomb on Easter morning.

Let us pray:

Jesus, we know that there are times in our own lives when we deny you, when in ways we crucify you again. We are thankful for your forgiveness and reach out now to be welcomed, loved, and received by you.