Word to the Wise
Friday, March 29, 2024 - Good Friday of the Lord's Passion - ABC
[Isa 52:13-53:12; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42]Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following in his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. [Isaiah] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way, yet without sin. [Hebrews] "TAKE HIM AWAY, TAKE HIM AWAY! CRUCIFY HIM!" [John]
The cries of "Hosanna!" (which means "Save us!) on Palm Sunday are not the cries we hear and make on Good Friday. Now we hear, "Take him away, take him away, crucify him!" How can this be? How can we be so fickle? Can we be so manipulated by "the powers that be" that we welcome a savior and then kill him? Yes, we can! Which is precisely the reason why all this is taking place. It is not ancient history! Jesus died once on the cross, but he died for all of us NOW and in the future. That is the big theological picture. But there is more to it than that because suffering is a universal experience.
The isolation and pain that anyone suffering experiences is manifested in Jesus' suffering as well. He cries out in the words of Psalm 22: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" [Ps. 22:1]. The second scripture for today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, tells us that Jesus does know and understand our suffering. Isaiah tells us that our suffering is included in the One who suffers for us all! We are the Body of Christ and just as his suffering includes ours, so ours includes his in the cross we venerate today! He has given us his Body and Blood at the Last Supper and that Body and Blood suffers today.
Yes! There is a "tomorrow" of resurrection, but the path to it requires that we embrace the cross on the way - our very own "Way of the Cross!" AMEN