Turning Hate into Love

Changing HATE

into LOVE

(Is. 53.1-6)

Welcome and Introduction

Song: 674 There is a green hill far away

The Lord is here.

His Spirit is with us.

We ask God's forgiveness for our sins

O King enthroned on high, filling the earth with your glory:

holy is your name, Lord God Almighty.

In our sinfulness we cry to you to take our guilt away

and to cleanse our lips to speak your word,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Absolution:

May almighty God have mercy on us,

forgive us our sins,

and bring us to everlasting life,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Collect of the day

Reading: Isaiah 53.1-6

Song: 222 He was pierced for our transgressions

Turning HATE into LOVE

We are going to change the word HATE into LOVE. That's what Jesus did on the first Good Friday. That's what the cross is all about.

Ask for nine volunteers, and give them each a letter.

Ask if four of them arrange themselves to spell the word HATE. Ask the other five to stand to one side.

HATE

Many people in Jerusalem hated Jesus.

Ask children if they knew who hated Jesus

- Herod

- High Priest

- Scribes and Pharisees, (not Pilate - he just didn't care).

They hated Jesus so much that they paid people to tell lies about him.

But in every case, Jesus met their hatred with Love.

Jesus had said to his disciples, "Love your enemies, do good those who hate you", (OHP) ...and on Good Friday Jesus did just that.

(Explain that we now want to change just one letter to make another word. We can only use the letters at the front. There are a few possible answers, ...I wonder if you can guess which word I want next.)

(Exchange H for G)

GATE

Now what's that got to do with Good Friday?

Well do you remember where Jesus was killed? In our first song we sang,

"There is a green hill far away, without a city wall."

As a child that always used to confuse me, ...because Jesus was crucified at Jerusalem, which does have a city wall? So why does this him say that he died on a hill without a city wall.

But it's an old hymn, and the hymn writer was using the word 'without' to mean 'outside'. In other words,

"There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall."

And that's an important point. As it says in Hebrews: OHP

"Jesus... suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his blood."

(Heb. 13.12)

On a Monday the bin men come, and I open the garden gate and put the rubbish out. And it was the same in Jesus day, (not that the bin men came on Mondays!), but the place you put the rubbish was outside the city walls.

In fact there was a great big rubbish tip outside Jerusalem.

They also used to keep outside the gate those people who they treated as rubbish, ...like those who had leprosy.

And on Old Testament times, the bodies of animals which had been sacrificed were burned outside the city wall.

And that's where Jesus was crucified, ...not in the city with where the 'nice' people live, ...but outside the city gate with the rubbish.

Jesus met hate with love, by bearing the shame of public disgrace.

(What word next?

Exchange T for V)

GAVE

Who do you blame for Jesus' death?

(Ask the children who they blame.)

- Pilate? ...yes

- Herod? ...yes

- Pharisees? ...yes

- The crowd? ...yes

But do you know who else was to blame?

...Me!

I know I hadn't even been born then, but I'm as much to blame as anyone in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.

You see, Jesus didn't deserve to die, ...because he never did anything wrong. But as for me, I've done many things that are wrong, ...I can be selfish, and proud, ...every day I do, say, and think things that I know to be wrong.

On the cross, Jesus died for the wrong things that I have done, and the wrong things that you have done.

In the words of our Bible reading:

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned his own way,

and the LORD has laid on Jesus,

the sins of us all."

I may not have literally shouted, 'Crucify Him!'; but it was I might as well have done, because it was for my sins that Jesus was crucified.

The whole world rejected Jesus, and I'm as much to blame as anyone else.

I'd like to play you a song called "When the world said No." We're not going to sing it, but if you'd like to follow the words, you can find them on the back of your service sheet.

(Play Tape - Graham Kendrick, Paid on the Nail)

St Paul described Jesus in these words: OHP

"...the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for ME".

(Gal. 2.20)

And similarly, Jesus gave himself for ME, ...and for YOU!

But that's not all.

(What word next?

Exchange A for I)

GIVE

Why is Good Friday called 'Good'?

That always used to confuse me?

What's so good about Good Friday?

Ask children.

Well what's good about Good Friday is the good news that we can be forgiven.

You see, if on the cross, Jesus died for all the wrong things that we have done, ...then it's now possible for God to forgive us for those things.

As we sang in our first song this morning:

There was no other good enough

to pay the price of sin;

He only could unlock the gate

of heaven, and let us in.

So the good news is that Jesus died so that we might be forgiven, and so that he might give us eternal life.

I can't stress this enough.

We don't get to heaven by being good, ...for none of us can ever be good enough. We get to heaven by receiving the free gift of eternal life.

Have you accepted this gift yet?

Which brings us to our next word.

(What word next?

Exchange G for L)

LIVE

God's wonderful gift of eternal life begins here and now.

The cross is a bit like the signpost at a crossroads. When we stand at the foot of the cross we have a decision to make. We can either choose to go God's way, and ask him to give us his gift of life, ...or we can continue to go our own way, ...a way that ultimately ends in death.

Not that the way of life is easy. Jesus said:

"...wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Many people find that when they become a Christian their problems don't disappear, ...in fact, some find that things get even harder.

But the cross reminds us that it wasn't easy for Jesus either.

And finally...

(What word next?

Exchange I for O)

LOVE

Jesus refused to repay hate with hate... instead he showed amazing love to those who hated him.

Jesus turned hate into love on that first Good Friday. And because our new life is in Him, we too can turn hate into love, ...but only because of God's amazing love for us.

Song: 745 Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (omit v4 )

We affirm what we believe about God

Let us declare our faith

Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures;

he was buried;

he was raised to life on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures;

afterwards he appeared to his followers,

and to all the apostles:

this we have received,

and this we believe. Amen.

The Prayers

Including a prayer of commitment from Why Jesus?

Song: 465 Meekness and Majesty

Blessing

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ. Amen.