As Christians everywhere this day flock to churches stripped of all flowers to venerate the wood of the cross, we fast and pray, mindful of the depth of God’s love for us, even to the death of his Son on a cross. There are two questions that I would like to offer for our reflection. First, what did we do to deserve such a loving God who gives the life of his only Son for our salvation? And second, what can we offer him in return for this wondrous sacrifice Jesus has made for us?
As to the first question, we all know that the answer is very simple: absolutely nothing. We have done nothing to deserve God’s love, and in fact over human history – and, perhaps, even our personal history – we have tried just about every form of rejection of God’s love. We merit, or earn, nothing. God gives us his love, his mercy, and his grace, freely and unreservedly. On Good Friday, we recount the event that so dramatically reveals God’s love as we all participate in the proclamation of the Passion Narrative from the Gospel of John.
While the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke focus on Jesus’ great suffering, John’s Gospel emphasizes divine power shining through human weakness. According to this Gospel account, Jesus is fully aware of what is about to happen to him. Because he understands that this is the Father’s will, Jesus shows no fear, only faith and determination in the face of cruel torture and painful execution.
Numerous groups joined forces in a conspiracy to bring about the death of Jesus: the Sanhedrin, the Herodians, the Romans, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Chief Priests, the Scribes, the Elders, the Scholars of the Law and even one of his own apostles. Little do they realize, however, that they are fulfilling the ancient prophecies with every false charge they make, with every plot they hatch. As we heard in this afternoon’s first reading, centuries before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah prophesied that a suffering servant would be “pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins.” As terrible as it seems, it had to be this way, so Jesus could break the chains of sin, Satan, and death, forever and for everyone and so that no matter how badly we might suffer, we can always be assured that our God would understand the pain and accompany us as he accompanied his son. Isaiah foretold that kings would stand speechless in the face of Jesus’ immense suffering.
This brings us to the second question: What can we offer in return? Standing speechless is not the right answer. Granted, we may find ourselves in awe – and perhaps speechless before God – but our mission is to testify to all we have seen and heard. We are to proclaim the Good News of salvation, not just stand around staring at it.
The sky was darkened. The earth shook. The curtain of the temple was torn. Time stopped. In this horrific death that Jesus suffered, we see how much God loves us. He loves us to death, even though we don’t deserve it. In return, he asks for our love, our commitment to follow the way his son showed us and our dedication to lead others to him.