Good Friday: day of the cross, day of suffering, day of abandonment, day of sorrow, day of endings, day of beginnings.
The cross of Christ is the central symbol of Christianity. But, so often, familiarity depreciates a symbol of its meaning. How many of us wear crosses around our necks and daily think of who is symbolized by our cross?
Good Friday surely brings us back to the stark reality of the cross and, more importantly, whom and what the sign of Christianity symbolizes.
We humans forever want to see signs, sensational events. The sensational is the way of the world. It is what makes the headlines. The way of the world is not god’s way. But it is not surprising that the way of the world should spill over into our spiritual lives: weeping statues, a religious image on a window or the wall of a building or a potato chip.
The same curiosity was true in Jesus’ time. “Teacher, we should like to see a sign from you.” Jesus would no more give into the temptation of sensationalism at the time of his death than he did when he was tempted to be sensational in the desert at the beginning of his ministry.
He says: “it is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign. The only sign that will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For, just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth for three days.”
Jonah, understandably, wanted to run away from being a prophet. We know how prophets end. Jesus, understandably, did not want to suffer. He prayed: “Father, let this cup pass from me.” But he did not run; he added, “not my will but yours be done.” He would trustingly go through the suffering.
The authentic sign for Jesus would not be a sensational miracle, but his suffering, death, burial, and resurrection – summarized by the cross.
The core message for us on Good Friday is the paschal mystery: die to live. Real victory can never be reached while bypassing necessary suffering and death, but only by going through them.
We have little choice about suffering or about death - both are facts of life. This is not to say that we should seek suffering; that would be masochism. We try to avoid it, yet, suffering is inevitable.
It is true: Jesus removed much suffering in his day, but not for everyone. He even held off death for Lazarus and a few others -- for a while.
St. Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Church, taught that Jesus did not have to suffer to redeem us; any act - even being born - would redeem us.
So, why did Jesus suffer? On Holy Thursday evening, Jesus held his last supper with his apostles. He washed the apostles’ feet; he took bread and wine, blessed and gave to his followers. He talked with them; he went out to pray. All actions.
But, in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus’ action ceased and his passion began. Passion, when we speak of Jesus’ passion, is the opposite of action. It is passiveness. After years of action: teaching preaching, healing, everything changed: no longer did he do things; things were done to him. The passive voice indicating “passion” begins: he was taken, was bound, was tried, was scourged, was spit upon, was crowned with thorns, was nailed to a cross. Through this passion he fulfills his vocation.
It is important for us to realize that, in the end, Jesus fulfills his vocation not by what he does, but by what is done to him. He placed his trust in his father. He accepted the suffering that life dealt him.
The lesson for us is to realize that much of the story of our life is written in the passive voice [passion]. Also. Not to trust in our father - as Jesus did - not to recognize and accept my passion - as Jesus did, is to fail to Live Jesus and enter into illusion that i am in complete charge of my life. Life in the passive voice is a large part of who i am.
We recall his words:
· “unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat...”
· “he who would save his life must lose it”
A way of living is revealed, the paschal mystery. It is the way in which pain can be accepted, not out of a desire to suffer, but in the hope that something new will be born in our hearts.
Jesus says: “A woman in childbirth suffers because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born into the world.” Man or woman we all know the pain of labor, the pain of separation from a loved one, the pain of loss of a friendship.
We do not fully understand the mystery of suffering. We know it to be part of the human condition. It is a reality that Jesus himself experienced. It is a mystery not easy to accept. We want God to “fix” things that go wrong. To expect a messiah to be like that is to be like the Jews expecting a Messiah who would free them from roman rule. When we have false expectations, we make God into our image and likeness. We forget that we are children of our father who calls us to trust that the final chapter will be a wonderful, glorious one.
We, like Jesus, are called to place our trust / faith in god and accept all our experiences. God enables us to grow from our experience. Trusting in our God brings spiritual intimacy because we share the same walk as Jesus.
We know that Jesus loves us unconditionally. Ironically, his tormentors showed us how much he loves us by their ironically nailing Jesus’ arms open in that great embrace that has encompassed the world for 2000 years. Passively, he was crucified. Actively, he loves us both in his suffering and in ours. Resurrected, he beckons us and continues to love us unconditionally.
