Friday, April 2, 2021

 Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

(Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42)

In our age of plenty some people have taken to collecting crucifixes.  They mount them on a wall in their homes.  Some of the crucifixes present Jesus as bloody and beaten.  Others show him with the muscles of an athlete capable of ripping out the nails in his hands if he so wanted.  Sometimes Jesus is pictured in priestly robes or kingly dress.  None of the crucifixes ridicule Jesus despite their differences.  All show him respect even though they assign different meanings to his death.

We should think of the four gospels like the different kinds of crucifixes.  Except for Matthew’s almost duplicating Mark’s account, each gospel describes Jesus’ death in a unique way.  The Gospel of Mark, which we proclaimed last Sunday, portrays Jesus as dying in misery.  Everyone at hand taunts him.  Even nature offers no comfort as the sky turns dark.  Today’s passion from the Gospel of John leaves a very different impression.  No one mocks Jesus on the cross or at any other time in John’s gospel.  Nor does he die alone but with family and friends at his side.  The sign on the cross is written in three languages so that the whole world may honor him. 

In the Gospel of John, Pilate condemns Jesus at noon on the day of preparation for the Passover feast.  It is the appointed moment for the paschal lambs to be slaughtered.  John is telling his readers that Jesus is the Lamb of God whose sacrifice takes away their sins.  This has been Jesus’ mission given by God, his Father.  Early in the gospel Jesus said  to Nicodemus that God loved the world.  Indeed, he loved it so much that he gave his only begotten son so that those who believed in him might have eternal life.  His last words on the cross, “It is finished,” indicate that he has accomplished what he was sent to do. 

We are to respond to Jesus’ sacrifice for us by believing in him.  The act of faith is more than saying, “I believe.”  It is incorporating the life of the Holy Trinity within us.  As Father, Son, and Spirit love each other so that they lose themselves in one another so must we.  We are to give ourselves in love for others, certainly God above all and then our families and communities.  But our love must extend to the world as well.