GOOD FRIDAY - C - 16 THE PASSION OF JOHN
We are veterans of numerous Holy Weeks. We have
heard it all many times before from Matthew, Mark, Luke and now again from
John. Nothing new here. The gospel writers all report the same thing albeit
with varying detail. Ask anyone of us here today and we can tell you what
happened to Jesus on Good Friday.
Not unlike the citizens of Jerusalem, or the
countless pilgrims who were pouring into the city to celebrate Passover. Crucifixion
was common, all to common. Jesus’ crucifixion was one among many. It was Rome’s
favorite means of dispatching criminals, and the Lord of Life willingly took
the place of one.
The roads leading in an out of the Holy City were
lined with crosses containing the dead and the dying; those unfortunate ones,
who for one reason or another, found themselves at cross-purposes with the
Empire. So common was the sight that most of the populace paid little or no
attention as they passed by but simply went about their business as usual. Can’t
you just see and hear a young mother holding tightly to the hand of her child
and insisting that the child not look up or point at those dying on the cross?
According to John, Jesus’ mother, along with two
other women, and the beloved disciple stood close to the cross of Jesus; close
enough to hear Jesus speak; close enough to see the water and blood that issued
from his side when pierced by the soldier’s lance.
Before he died Jesus gave his mother to John to look
after, and John to his mother as a son. No promise issued forth from his lips
that day, according to John, only the words “It is finished,” and then he died.
There were
others close by as well, namely the secret disciples of Jesus; Joseph of
Arimathea and the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Having asked for and received the body
of Christ from the authorities they carried out their act of compassion by
wrapping it in a linen cloth, covering it with spices, and hastily laying it in
a new tomb nearby before the Sabbath began.
After witnessing his burial, his mother, and the
other women, left the scene with the beloved disciple most likely to return to
the upper room where the rest of the disciples were in hiding. Joseph and
Nicodemus went home. The rulers and the other religious leaders that helped to
nail Jesus to the cross dispersed as well believing that they had done a great
thing for God.
While the soldiers who had drawn the nasty duty of
crucifying him, along with the two thieves on either side of him were, as they
say, just doing their duty and nothing more and were glad it was over quickly.
The curious on-lookers that may have stopped to view the scene read the
inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” But it didn’t mean a
thing to them and when they realized all three were dead, simply moved on.
Nothing more to see here.
What about us? When today’s service has ended do we
simply move on? Move on with our lives as though what happened to Jesus in
Jerusalem doesn’t matter? Have we become so insensitive to his suffering and
death on the cross that we choose not to look at it, much less contemplate what
it might mean for us and for the life of the world?
Have we been veterans of too many Good Fridays to
the point that we have lost it’s meaning?
The cross
reminds us, as Isaiah proclaims in today’s first reading, “that he was wounded
for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment
that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed,” and in addition the
author of Hebrews aptly reminds us Jesus “is the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him.”
Today is a day to focus our attention on Christ
crucified, not to look away, but to look at the cross with body of the dying
Jesus hanging upon it; even point to it if need be, in order to ponder what it
all means to us. There is really no other reason for us to be here.
Hopefully we came to listen to the Passion narrative
as if we were hearing it for the very first time; to meditate on the words of
the Servant Song of Isaiah as they relate to the one who died for us, and to
receive with Thanksgiving the Hope that rests in Christ, as the passage from
Hebrews reminds us.
We are here, then, to give Thanks for His
willingness to suffer for us, for our sins, and the sins of the whole world, so
that we might live anew to the Life God has given us, and to embrace the Hope
of the Life to come.
Taken collectively these three readings open the way
for us to enter into the true meaning of the day. For they proclaim what God
has done for us in Christ and together bid us anew to receive the gift of God’s
redemptive Love; an undying Love that manifests itself from the cross; a Love
that invites us, in the name of the Crucified Lord Jesus, to share it in our
service to others. AMEN+
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