Relationship: A Lakota View of the Good Friday Story

Lectionary reflections for Good Friday (C)

by Robert Two Bulls

Readings for Good Friday, Year C, Apr. 9, 2004

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Hebrews 10:1-25

John (18:1-40) 19:1-37

I have not yet seen the film that everyone I know is talking about, The Passion. The reasons I have not seen it yet have to do with the high cost of seeing movies, finding the time to see it, and needing to hire a babysitter for my kids. So I will probably have to wait for the DVD release and view it in the comfort of my home.

In the old days of my ancestors, the Oglala Lakotas, we had, like all ancient societies, our professional storytellers. They were individuals who could tell the old stories and from them the people learned how to live in balance with the world around them. This storytelling occurred while everyone sat around staring into the fire. In this modern age, storytelling is left to the filmmakers and to the glow of the television screen.

After reading the Gospel of Luke's Passion narrative on Palm Sunday, and then reading the Passion narrative in the Gospel of John, I was once again surprised how different each story is from the other. It is not a radical difference but a subtle one, which requires one to pay more attention to the story. When I read the Passion narratives like other passages in the Bible I usually find something that jumps out at me or leaves me thinking and it changes. What is clear one day is clouded the next and this usually depends on where I might be in my life's journey. Perhaps if I had millions of dollars I could tell my version of the story on film. But that is not case here and may never be – what I have to work with is the narrative found in John, my own imagination, and very little space.

We are left with our own imaginations to ponder the fact that the events leading up to the crucifixion were violent. Because death is violent no matter how it is executed. And do not be fooled that our state executions are somehow sanitized by lethal injections, thereby making them all right. We have to remember that Jesus rejects the use of violence.

In John's Passion narrative we can see how Jesus was always the one in total control. He knew from the onset that his death was going to happen. We are left with our own imaginations to ponder the fact that the events leading up to the crucifixion were violent. Because death is violent no matter how it is executed. And do not be fooled that our state executions are somehow sanitized by lethal injections, thereby making them all right. We have to remember that Jesus rejects the use of violence. He never once loses his cool – even when Peter lops off the right ear of Malchus. Jesus stays cool even after being hit for speaking the truth. He used his words, not violence, and he does not suffer in this story.

Peter eventually fails at the moment of his teacher's greatest need when he succumbs to the old maxim, “every man for himself.” And he does this three times in a spontaneous manner, without realizing it, until the cock crows. Just as his teacher predicted. And through all of this we hear how Jesus goes along willingly, yet always in control and always placing self before his disciples. When he is arrested, he says more or less, “You came for me not them, leave them alone.” We can learn much from this kind of action, especially in a society that allows us to think and care only for self. Ours is a society that makes it difficult to give and to be part of community.

We can “bail” like Judas did: take the money and run. In the Gospel of John, we hear no more of Judas. We are left only with our own imagination as to what happened to him. Did he use the money to purchase a nice villa along the Sea of Galilee to live out his life in anonymous luxury? Did he use it for travel or spend it with wild abandon? Did he help the poor? According to the Gospel of John, we really do not know what happened to the great betrayer. We can use our own imaginations and ask ourselves: When was I like Peter? When was I like Judas? And how many times have we asked the question Pilate asks, “What is truth?”

Good Friday – Holy Friday – is the day that the anniversary of the crucifixion is kept. It is a day of fasting, abstinence, and penance, so if one had no time to practice any of this during Lent, this day can be the time. The tradition of the church places the hour that Christ died at 3:00 p.m. Do we really know this, and does it even matter? What does matter is that he and the other two who were strung up beside him on Golgotha were all dead by sunset as the dark of night blanketed the land. Yet the light still shined brightly in the darkness.

The story must be told and retold if we as Christians are to learn anything from it lest we forget. That is the wisdom of our ancestors.

Mitakuye owasin . (We are related.)

The Rev. Robert Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota) is missioner for Native Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He is an artist and an educator who develops inter- and cross-cultural models on Christianity and traditional spiritual practices among indigenous peoples and other communities. Robert may be reached by email at indigenous@ladiocese.org .