A PASSIONATE DEATH FOR SINNERS.
April 7, 2023.
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion.
“Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on
a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
which is above every other name.” Phil 2:8-9
A Zimbabwean proverb says: “Passion is of greater
consequence than facts.” And an English proverb adds: “Love is as strong as
death.”
The Cross of Jesus speaks one message. It says one word and
invites to one principle: supreme and unequal love. In Jn 15:13, the Lord
himself said: “There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down
his life for the sake of his friends.” And that is what he concretized on the
wood of the Cross. From that hour of Jesus' Passion and Death on the Cross, the
Cross stands as the supreme expression of love, the symbol of supreme and
sacrificial love.
On this Friday, we are celebrating love, not death. Jesus
dying on the Cross paid the price of love. Thus, the Catechism says: “It is
love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as
redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us
all when he offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because
we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died." No
man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men
and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine
person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and
constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive
sacrifice for all.” CCC 616
We are at the hour of the fulfillment of all things. Today,
Jesus consummates his sacrifice on the cross. He consummates love, like a
chalice up to the dredge, and that love consummates him as well. What we
celebrate on this Good Friday is the love sacrificed for human salvation, a
love that turned out to be a ransom of sin. As we hear in our opening prayer,
God, by the Passion of Christ His Son, our Lord, abolished the death inherited
from ancient sin. From Jesus' Passion, we are set free and restored to God's
love.
Today, the Church does not give thanks. We do not celebrate
the Holy Eucharist. The source of all Thanksgiving, the one who gives meaning
and reason to our faith has been put to death. He has died so that we should
live. Therefore, the liturgy of the word invites us to reflect on the price He
paid for our lives.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah speaks of the
Suffering Servant of God. He says that he was wounded for our sins. Jesus is
the perfect expression of this suffering servant of God. He incarnates his
humility, docility, selflessness, obedience, and acceptance of suffering. He
endured all quietly because of his love for God and man. He gave up his life,
surrendering all things to His Father for our sake.
Therefore, the Letter to the Hebrews can say, "Jesus
learned obedience and became the source of salvation for all who obey
him." Obedience was the secret of his being able to undergo passion and
die on the cross. Through his obedience, he paid the cost of love. Obedience is
the key to a passionate love for God and people.
The narrative of the Passion according to St. John teaches
about what Jesus went through and what we should be ready to face or go through
for love's sake. The Lord was betrayed by a close friend, handed over to
Pagans, brought in front of the High Priests, and then to Pilate, put to
trials, denied by his disciple, judged and sentenced to death, crucified... All
these as the cost of his obedience and love.
Meditating on his passion, we are urged to reflect on what
it means to love and to be obedient. Our personal experiences of life could
meet this situation of our Lord. If you love with passion, you will die a
passionate death killed for what you love. To love is to be ready to die.
Besides the dimension of love and its highest cost, the
celebration of Lent and in particular Holy Week and the mystery of Good Friday,
has something greater to do with sin. Jesus died for our sins. This is
something we must not forget. Therefore, as we relive the Paschal Triduum and
meditate on the Passion of Christ, we must also reflect on our sinfulness and
make an ever renewed resolution not to sin again. Sin costs lives, not only the
lives of the Lord Jesus but also our own lives. Sin destroys us and takes us away
from God's loving embrace. As we travel today with the Lord, may we resolve to
fight all that leads to sin and its mortal consequences.
We live in a permissive society where people have lost the notion of sin and where everything becomes just a matter of trend and convenience. Abortion is a trend. Homosexuality and LGBTQI are a trend. Same-sex union is a trend. Divorce is a trend. Suicide is a trend. Corruption in all its forms is a trend. Sexual abuse is a trend. Pedophilia is a trend... May the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ take us away from this culture of trend and search for the real freedom that springs from truth, justice, and love. Our life as Christians should not be a matter of convenience or trend. The Cross, the ultimate and supreme sacrifice, true love... that is what should attract us.
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