Good Friday
Superficially, the name “Good Friday” can seem wildly inappropriate for the day on which we commemorate the brutal murder and death of the One who came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). But then, the very Scriptures that we are given for our liturgical celebration are weighted with paradox and contradictions.
In John’s Passion, Jesus is presented as a king – “You say I am a king!”—fully in command of his own destiny in the midst of the injustices and cruelties brought against him: “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.”
But in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, we experience a kind of whiplash effect: See my servant shall prosper… because of him kings shall stand speechless.” And yet, “There was in him no stately bearing,… one of those from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.”
Jesus’ power is precisely the power of the second person of the Holy Trinity: “if he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.” (Isaiah 53:10).
God so loves the world that in the person of Jesus he willing took – and still takes – the very worst that his fellow human beings could dish out to him, and he showed – and still shows – the triumphant and saving power of love.
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for giving me a share in your life through your sharing in mine. Paradoxically I see myself also in all who contributed to your passion and death. Forgive whatever suffering I may cause for your sisters and brothers – members of your body – in my own day, and grant that by your love all my suffering may be transformed into “good” suffering in union with yours, offered for the salvation of the world. Amen.
Fr. David Cray, SSE
Superior General, Society of St. Edmund
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Second Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Gospel: John 18:1—19:42
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