Word to the Wise
Friday, April 18, 2025 - 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 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 similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. [Hebrews]
I can remember vividly the occasion when I went with two friends to see Mel Gibson's movie THE PASSION. When I came out of the theater, all I could think was, "He did that for me!" That immediate personal reaction should have been broadened to say, "He did that for US..." - for all humanity. Two aspects of this shine forth from the powerful prophecy of Isaiah which culminates today in the last of the Songs of the Suffering Servant that we have heard throughout Holy Week, and from the words of the Letter to the Hebrews.
The first aspect is that of reconciliation - the forgiveness of sins committed individually and collectively. Christ's death offers to us the real opportunity of forgiveness. St. Paul describes the Christian as a "minister of reconciliation!" [2 Corinthians 5:18-21]. The sheer destructiveness and suffering that we humans can cause seems unending. The "Holocaust" of Nazi Germany and other terrible individual and collective acts cry out for some kind of forgiveness because they are the results of human actions against other humans. If there is no forgiveness, there is no accountability and no conscience. Christ's suffering is traditionally called "redemptive" for this reason. Can we forgive as he has forgiven?
The second aspect directs us to the common experience of all humanity - that of suffering, whether the result of human actions, as I just mentioned, or the result of impersonal actions like natural disasters - earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, disease, accidents, famine, etc.. How can we make sense of the terrible suffering that we see almost daily in the news from around the world. It can be overwhelming. We humans try to find meaning in the midst of these great sufferings. The passion of Christ assures us that we are not alone in our suffering or in our search to find any meaning in it.
The powerful simplicity of the Good Friday service offers an opportunity to reflect on the meaning not just of Christ's suffering on behalf of us all, but on our own suffering and that of our neighbor. AMEN