FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2024
GOOD FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD JESUS
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrew 4:14-16, 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
THE PASSION AND CROSS OF JESUS: OUR JOY AND SOLACE
How can we address this day as Good Friday when in fact the wickedness, cruelty and violence of the heart of man was revealed and acted on the person of Jesus Christ? Why should we rejoice on this day when we could visibly witness the same cruelty meted to the Son of God for being a righteous and faithful servant of God.
The day calls us to reflect deeper on the significance of this day, which the church has helped us to designate as a penitential day for humanity. We undertake the discipline of fast, abstinence and mortification today to make atonement for our sins even though it is called Good Friday. The goodness of this Friday can only be observed in its achievement gained for humanity, the salvation of our souls.
The prophecy of Isaiah, our first reading details the sufferings of the Son of man. His condemnation by his adversaries, the treatment meted to him, the agony he had to go through for being righteous, for doing the will of the Father, for proclaiming the truth in God and for teaching the people the things that matter in life.
Coming closer to the reason for this day, the letter to the Hebrews explains the reasons for this treatment meted to the Son of God. It was because Jesus came as our priest, our victim and our sacrifice to sympathize with us in our weaknesses, to make atonement for our faults and sins, to plead our cause before God. And most importantly, he left us the way of salvation, the way to win life and be at peace with God our Father. He taught us obedience to the Father, submissiveness to divine will and gave us the map, strength and way to our eternal salvation.
In the passion narrative according to the evangelist John, we are drawn closer to the source of our salvation. The cross of Christ, the agony of the cross and the total submission of Christ to the Father which bought our salvation. It is from the cross as he hangs upon it that blood and water flowed from to nourish our lives, to purify our souls and to make us better citizens of God’s kingdom.
The agony of the cross, the sufferings of Christ upon the cross and his death therefore brought our redemption, wipe away our iniquity, restored our innocent and prepares us for eternal life with God. This is our joy and solace.
So hanging and anchoring our lives on the cross becomes imperative, necessary and greatly important. For the cross which was before now, an instrument of cruelty has become in Christ, a means of our salvation. So we glory in it, we display the cross, we wear it, and we adore and venerate the cross as our means of salvation designed by our God. By itself, it is a sign of victory, a figure of our redemption in Christ and a symbol of joy, peace and salvation in Christ.
So we celebrate and reenact this mystery today which for us is good and important to savor its saving mysteries, to gain its joyful intent, to be regenerated in its salvific powers and authority. It is a gratuitous gift to mankind, a blessing to our souls and our eternal consolation.
Gaining these blessings, we need to therefore totally and unreservedly submit to divine authority just as Jesus did in the words of the psalmist. “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” Such total submission and willingness of heart assures all these blessings won by Christ our Lord.
Heavenly Father, as we celebrate today the events of your Son’s cruel death, intense suffering and agony on the cross, we beg you, by such merits, wipe away our sins, our iniquity; admit us into your sacred heart. May we be covered and shielded by your saving blood. May the atonement made by your suffering and death bring us healing, salvation and eternal joy through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
