Year A: Good Friday
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
April 3, 2026
the Rev. Jonathan Hanneman
To watch the full service, please visit this page (available for three weeks after the date of streaming).
This liturgical year, we draw most of our Gospel readings from the book of Matthew. Scholars suspect that, with his relatively frequent references to Hebrew prophecy, Matthew was writing to a primarily Jewish audience. During Sunday’s Passion reading, we heard Jesus quote the book of Zechariah when predicting the disciples would abandon him;[1] later, during his trial, he made reference to one of Daniel’s visions with his mention of “the Son of Man…coming on the clouds of heaven.”[2]
Prophecy has far more to do with pointing out patterns of human behavior than with prognostication. That being true, it’s important to recognize that fulfilment of prophecy is less focused on when a singular event occurs and instead takes place when the conditions of that prophecy are embodied—when human behavior fleshes out the skeleton of the author’s words. As such, today I’d like us to consider the very first prophecy that Matthew quotes in his Gospel:
“‘They shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’”[3]
Most of us probably don’t give much thought to the idea of “Emmanuel,” especially at this time of year. Advent and Christmas, sure. Epiphany, maybe. But Lent or Holy Week? Probably not. We may have learned to associate “God with us” almost exclusively with Christ’s birth, but the point where we find ourselves today—Good Friday—might just be the most appropriate time to consider the depth of Emmanuel’s implications.
We readily think of God being with us when things are going well—a clean bill of health; a sudden windfall of cash; or even when we simply step outside to the perfect amount of sunshine, an ideal temperature, and a just generally gorgeous day. In all those kinds of situations, it’s easy for us to feel like God is on our side. And it’s true: God is with us in those times.
But what about when things aren’t going so well? Trouble in the family, an unexpectedly large tax bill; days on end of dust storms and brown air. Sudden illness, chronic pain, a terminal diagnosis. Where is God when the future is dark? When every turn we make leads to frustration? When evil prospers and good stands by powerless to change anything? Where is God in the midst of trial, sorrow, and death?
With us.
God is with us in fear and anxiety. God is with us in distress and confusion. God is with us in pain and even, if need be, through torture. God is still with us as our bodies lie in the grave. How do we know?
Because Emmanuel.
Jesus: God with us, God beside us, God among us. Prophecy incarnate—God’s character given human flesh and personality. A loving, merciful, and generous God embodied as a servant to others. In good times and bad. Honored by foreign rulers or fleeing from his own. Seated at a wedding in Cana or standing at the bedside of a dead child. Teaching on a sunny hillside or asleep in a boat on a storm-ravaged sea. Breaking the bread or spitting out the sour wine. Entering Jerusalem to accolades one day only to be condemned by the same crowd the next. Beaten, mocked, and tortured. Suffering, suffocating, and stabbed with a spear. Ashamed, abandoned, and ultimately entombed.
Through it all, Jesus remains Emmanuel: God with us.
In our pain. In our sorrow. In depression and despair. God actively with us, fully experiencing the horrors, the difficulties, and the indignities of human life. Not simply thousands of years ago. Not just in some distant future triumph. But today.
God with us. God suffering. God dying—with us.
No matter where we go. No matter how we feel. No matter what we think might stand between God and us. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. In life and death. In present realities and beyond.
God stands with us. God is among us. God is beside us, fully included in whatever might be happening. During Advent and at Christmas. Throughout Epiphany and Lent. On Palm Sunday, and yes, even on Good Friday.
“God is with us.”
[1] Matthew 26:31 | Zechariah 13:7 | All Bible quotations are from the NRSV unless otherwise noted.
[2] Matthew 26:64 | Daniel 7:13
[3] Matthew 1:23 | Isaiah 7:14