The Rev. Amy Morehous offered this touching sermon and Good Friday practice at Church of the Resurrection this past Good Friday. In reflecting on the draping of the cross, she had this to say:
Good Friday
The Rev. Amy Morehous
Church of the Resurrection
March 29, 2024
What an interesting pair they make, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Two men who have been followers of Jesus, who have asked questions of Jesus – but never in public.
We know that Joseph of Arimathea had been a disciple of Jesus, “though a secret one because of his fear.” And yet – despite his fear of being associated with Jesus, he takes the extraordinary step of going to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. There are few more public things one could do than to appear before the ruling government official to ask for the body of a notorious criminal. And yet – something gives Joseph the courage to do just that on this hard and holy Friday.
I can think of few more intimate things to have done for and with Jesus. It seems like a simple thing, the way it’s phrased in scripture. “He came and removed his body.” But think – how truly difficult must that have been? To bring down the cross. To remove Jesus physically from it after his death. To pry the nails from his hands and feet so that you can carry him away to a new tomb. What a tender and hard and holy thing to do for someone you have loved, someone you have trusted to transform your life, and the lives of all of his followers. And now … now there is only this day, and only this death, and only this service that you can still perform.
And who comes to assist Joseph of Arimathea? Nicodemus the Pharisee! The very same one who came to Jesus by night, who asks Jesus how it is possible to anyone to be born again, how these wondrous things can be. So the person who asks Jesus how it is possible to have new life in him is the same person who comes to tend Jesus at his death, to bring the costly mixture of myrrh and aloe, to help wrap Jesus’ broken body lovingly in spices and linen cloths. A hundred pounds is an extravagant amount, an overabundance much greater than what would have been necessary.
These two men act out their love for Jesus in tender and personal – and very public – ways. They throw caution to the wind, and perform this act of devotion, of deep sacrifice – this would have been a risky thing to do, for them. They risk being identified with Jesus, who has been condemned to die as a criminal, they risk losing all their status in society, they sacrifice their property – the tomb, the money paid for the extravagant balms and spices, and they sacrifice just about all their propriety.
But nothing matters now, except the tenderness and love of the moment. The tending to the body. The perfuming with spices, and wrapping in linen. Carrying him bodily to the tomb. These two men believe they are performing this service at the end, that they are leaving Jesus for what they believe is the last time. And they do it with love.
To send you home on this Holy Day, I’m passing you two strips of muslin, which have been anointed with perfume, just as they would have done for Jesus. When the time comes for reverencing the cross, I invite you to come forward, just as Joseph and Nicodemus would have done, and lay one strip on the cross – or wind it at the base, or just leave where seems right to you. We, too, will wrap this cross with love, with scented cloth. In doing so, we remember these two men who followed Jesus in secret, who are bold enough to perform these acts of love at what they thought was the very end.
One cloth, we leave at the cross. One cloth, we take home with us – to remember that we, too, are tasked with loving Jesus to the very end, just as he has loved us and all of his children. May this fragrant cloth remind us of the men who worshiped in secret for most of Jesus’ ministry, and then demonstrated such deep love, in a public and sacrificial way. May we have the strength to love Jesus – to love one another – in the same courageous and enduring way. Amen.
About the Rev. Amy Morehous
The Rev. Amy Morehous is the Rector of Church of the Resurrection, Loudon. She is an instructor of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation’s Lay Preaching Training Initiative in East Tennessee.