Rev. Dr. Fr. Patrick Mathias SDB- Homily- Good Friday - 29 March 2024
Good Friday – The Passion of the Lord- God who died for Love - 29 March 2024
Service Readings: Is 52:13-53:12 Ps 31:1, 5,11-12, 14-15, 16, 24 Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9 Jn 18:1- 19:42
Key Verse to Meditate: When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (Jn 19:30).
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
Today, the whole world celebrates Good Friday or Holy Friday, the day on which Christ died on the Cross at Mount Calvary for the redemption of the world. Jesus died on the Cross: This is our faith and proclamation. In Jesus’ death on the cross, we can understand surely that love is stronger than death (Jn 3:16-17). Good Friday is the day when the Church stops at the foot of the cross to meditate again on the immense value of Christ's love definitively manifested by his death.
Today, the Church is silent. The disciples are silent. Our churches are bare, unadorned, and silent. In the evening, during the adoration of the Cross, we will meet to listen to the passion. The Eucharist is not celebrated anywhere; the only sacrifice remains that of Christ hanging on the cross to seal the definitive bond between heaven and earth. Our hearts and prayers are also silent today. Here is God: Jesus died on the cross and died on this Good Friday. Jesus’ death on this Good Friday shows us that love can go this far, in total sacrifice and immolation. It is up to us now to bend our knees in adoration and thanksgiving, professing that Jesus is truly the Christ of God. Looking at the way Jesus died on the Cross on Mount Calvary, the cross, for us disciples, becomes luminous, a sign of salvation, an explicit and definitive testimony of love. That same cross should hang not only around our necks but over every choice that guides our lives.
The liturgy of the Word of God for today expresses the deep reality of Jesus' suffering on this Good Friday. The liturgy on this day concentrates on Jesus, the suffering servant of the Lord, as described in today’s first reading. Today’s liturgy is divided into three parts: 1. Liturgy of the Word 2. Adoration of the Cross and 3. Holy Communion.
The Holy Cross of Jesus: The cross has become the unit of measure of the love that God has for us. Let us stop at the foot of the cross in the silence of the soul and know for sure that, up to this point, we are loved. On this holy day, the whole church exhorts all the faithful to observe fasting and prayer in silence over the mystery of the death of Christ on the cross. This sense of emptiness marking Jesus' death on the Cross is also reflected in the church by leaving the altar empty and covering the crosses and statues of the saints. The Church today ceases its solemn liturgical vestments and becomes silent and penitent, participating in the spectacle of a God who dies for love. We are invited to adore this cross, expressing with a kiss all our gratitude for what we have received from it, and to be in solidarity with those who still suffer and love today. Today the Eucharist is not celebrated, since the Church is committed to meditating on the very content of the 'Memorial': the redemptive death of Christ, the source of salvation for every man. On Good Friday, one can witness the highest form of love. They say nails didn’t hold Jesus to the Cross. But love did. In Jesus’ death, we see the total and absolute self-giving for the life of the world in total obedience to the Father’s will.
The First Reading: The Suffering Servant of Yahweh: The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is the fourth song of the suffering servant of Yahweh. In this reading, we see the situation of Jesus’ suffering depicted so beautifully: "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is 53:3-6).
Jesus Bore our Sins: Jesus’ disfigured body on the cross is well brought out in the song of the suffering servant in Isaiah. Jesus was rejected by the religious authorities, the high priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He was also let down by Pilate and Herod, the disciples, and the crowd, who chose Barabbas over Jesus. His face was so distorted due to the beatings and the physical torture, as the prophet says, ‘His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men’ (Is 52:14). The purpose of Christ’s sufferings lies in the truth that he was wounded, bruised, and killed on the cross to bear the iniquities of all and to be made as a sin offering on behalf of us all, bringing pardon, forgiveness, and new hope. Yes, by Jesus’ wounds, we are all healed, as he bore our sins. Let us thank God for the Gift of God’s precious son.
The Second Reading: St. Paul, in the letter to the Hebrews, shows us how Jesus helps us in our weakness. He made himself so lowly for our sake that he took on human form. Being in human form, he was able to understand our human life of fragility and weaknesses. Jesus knows our human condition. It is enough to go to him to be washed by his precious blood: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:14-16).
The Passion Narrative: We have the passion narrative from the Gospel of John. It presents some aspects of the last part of the life of Christ, so different from other evangelists. The Johannine account presents us with a tangle of situations in which different people intervene: the disciples, the women, the priests, the governor, the soldiers. Each one, in their own way, approaches helplessly to the man Jesus, who goes towards his passion and death. Towards the end of the passion narrative in John’s gospel, he reminds us of a great reality. On this Holy Friday, we all need to look at Jesus on the Cross. Lent and this Holy Week are times to look at the crucified Saviour: "And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'" (Jn 19:37). This is, in fact, a quotation from the book of Zechariah: "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born" (Zec 12:10). Jesus has given his life by dying on the Cross. May the passion of Christ heal me, and may it be my hope.
The Significance of Blood and Water: After the death of Jesus, when the soldier pierced the side of Jesus, we read that there flowed blood and water: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out" (Jn 19:34). This is a great mystery. These two are tremendous signs for us Christians. The water that gushed forth from the side of the Savior symbolizes Baptism, and the blood symbolizes the Eucharist. Together, these two symbols represent the Church. Thus, the Church was born from the side of the Savior. Just as the soldier who opened the temple of the body of Christ and found these treasures, we too, the disciples of the Lord, will find the treasures of Christ in the Church, especially in the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. So, just as the woman was created from the side of the first man Adam, so too, the Church of God was born and formed from the side of Christ when he was pierced by the lance, says St. John Chrysostom. From his precious blood, we are born and shall nourish our lives. Just as a mother feeds her children with her milk, so too, Christ Jesus feeds all those who are reborn in Baptism.
Jesus Died for the Love of Us: Yes, Jesus died. He died on Good Friday. In Jesus’ death on the cross, we can surely understand that love is stronger than death. Jesus died for the love of you and me and for the world: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:16-17).
Jesus, our Salvation, sacrificed his life for us!!! By dying on the cross, he overcame death and won for us eternal life. He bore our sins like the sacrificial lamb, so that we are promised eternal life in him through faith: "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is 53:3-6).
All Have Sinned: This is also exactly what we find in the letter to the Romans: "Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith" (Rom 3:23-25). It’s the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our deadly sins and makes us worthy of the life of God. What John pointed out to his disciples regarding Jesus at the beginning of his Galilean ministry became prophetic and true at the end: "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29).
The Blood of the New Covenant: Jesus’ shedding of his precious blood on the cross for the redemption of the world becomes a new covenant of God. The death that resulted from sin and disobedience was cancelled and restored by the obedient death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, on the Cross. Moses in the desert, after proclaiming all the commandments of God, inaugurated the old covenant of God with his people by sprinkling the blood of the lamb in the desert: "Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it over the people, saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant which Yahweh has made with you, entailing all these stipulations'" (Ex 24:8). In the New Testament, this is the image of the precious blood of the lamb shed on the cross for the redemption of the world. The world is saved by the blood of Jesus.
The Cross of Christ: Sign of Hope and Life: When we look at the world amidst all fears, political turmoil, poverty, pandemics, and social degradation, we are at a loss for hope. But amidst this suffering, too, the cross of Christ becomes a sign of hope and life. The people who were bitten by snakes in the Old Testament were healed and restored to life by looking at the bronze serpent raised on a pole. But we, the disciples of the Lord, are asked to look at the Savior on the Cross, who died for you and me, to have life and protection from all evils, even this pandemic, and salvation and eternal life now and in the future. Often, it is the "temptation" in the face of suffering that prevents us from making progress in our Christian life. We believe that suffering is always to be avoided, that there cannot be "holy" suffering. This is because we have not yet sufficiently understood God's infinite love. Good Friday can be the best love story that one can ever imagine or was ever told. In Jesus’ death, we see that a love stronger than death can exist, and not a love that prevents death, but a love capable of giving everything. In the death of Jesus, we see a holy death and all the deaths that are united to his.
The Courage to Embrace the Cross: The Liturgy of Holy Friday, says Pope Francis, invites us to embrace his cross as ours and thus share in his sufferings. Jesus accepted the sufferings on the cross for the love of the Father. Jesus did not avoid death on the cross because it was the most painful thing, but accepted it willingly because it was the only thing that he could do for God the heavenly Father. His death has sanctified death itself for eternity. It is very interesting to meditate on the human reality that Jesus lived. He was born as a child, lived like a man, preached like a prophet, did miracles and healings as the Messiah, and yet finally Jesus also died a human death. The passion of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history. Jesus Christ suffered unspeakably and died. The way of the cross is the way of suffering. I believe in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died, and was buried!!!! We will not be able to grasp what happened to the Son of God at Mount Calvary. But remember that our Lord and Master Jesus is the one who prayed from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
Points for Personal Reflection:
On Good Friday, one can witness the highest form of love. They say, nails didn’t hold Jesus to the Cross. But love did. In Jesus’ death, we see total and absolute self-giving for the life of the world in total obedience to the Father’s will.
Like Jesus, we too must learn to accept the sufferings that come our way in our human lives and not flee from them. When we accept suffering, we can find the heart of God, the consolation of Jesus, just like Mary, our suffering mother. In the heart of Jesus, there is a perfect union between love and suffering; the saints who felt joy in the suffering that brought them closer to Jesus understood it.
What is the meaning of Good Friday for me? How does the death of Christ on the cross affect my life? How do I look at the sufferings in my life in the light of Christ’s sufferings?
Can we fix our gaze upon the Holy Cross of Christ on which he died on this special Friday? Can we look at it for a minute with a deep sense of gratitude for what he has done for you and me and for the world?
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