GOOD FRIDAY

                                         GOOD FRIDAY
1st Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
2nd Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Gospel John 18:1-19:42

HE DIED FOR LOVE
                                                          By Rev. Fr. Solomon Zaku
My dear brothers and sisters, today is Good Friday. It is the day we remember the death of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross for our sins in order to save us and to reconcile us with God. By dying on the cross, Jesus showed the depth of His love for you and I. It is an unconditional love, a love that has no limit and a love that is not selfish.
The day of the death of Jesus is called Good Friday and not bad Friday. What makes it good is the love of Jesus “Greater love no man has than to lay down his life for his friends”. St John tells us “For God so love the world that he gave His only begotten 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).
Death came into the world through Adam’s sin. Jesus the New Adam conquered death by dying and rising from the dead. A tree in the garden led to the fall of Adam. Jesus used a tree to restore us to God. Adam stretched out his hand to tree, that is to say he took the forbidden fruit, and consequently all human beings inherited death from him. Christ our Lord extended his hand on a tree and saved all humanity from eternal death. The Word through whom all things were created became Man and renewed the whole of creation most wonderfully.

Each year on a day like this, the church invites us to reflect on the passion, death and suffering of Jesus.. As we reflect on the Gospel of today we are reminded of the cowardice of the followers of Jesus who abandoned him at the hour of his greatest need, the wickedness of religious leaders who plotted his death, and the cruelty of the soldiers who carried out the execution. Jesus is the central character in the story. What we are remembering today is the fidelity, courage and sheer goodness of Jesus. Against the darkness of this world, his goodness shines brightly. The early Christians saw in the passion and death of Jesus the triumph of failure. With the help of the Scriptures, they came to understand that this was precisely how Jesus triumphed and entered into His glory. His glory cannot be separated from His passion. On the surface, it may seem as if it was a defeat for Jesus. It was not a defeat; it was a victory, it was the triumph of good over evil, love over hate, light over darkness and life over death.
The Evangelist John gave us a graphic narrative of the whole episode of the Passion and Death of Christ. In this narrative, we see many characters like Judas, Peter, the other disciples, the soldiers, the Women of Jerusalem, Malchus, Annas, Caiaphas the high priest, Pilate among others. Jesus, suffering betrayal and denial in the hands of Judas and Peter respectively. Today, Jesus is still being crucified by many. Some are betraying him while others are denying him. Where do you stand? The high priest, Caiaphas was the Chief persecutor of Jesus with other priests, scribes and Pharisees. Today, many are still playing the role of Caiaphas and Annas. Which role are you playing? There are women of Jerusalem, including Mary the Mother of Jesus. These women were consoling Jesus in his moment of trials. Mary, the wife of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene, the Mother of Jesus and John the Beloved were there as his pillar of support.
Jesus accepted to die on the cross which is a means of torture for criminals in order to bring us salvation. Christ transformed the cross from being evil to something good; it became a sign of our salvation. In the passion of Christ we find a remedy for all the evils which came upon us on account of our sins. For St Paul, the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness for the Greeks. It is a stumbling block for the Jews because they cannot understand why one who claimed to be God should die like a criminal (on the cross). This is why they refused to accept him. For the Greeks it is foolishness because, it is only a fool who will accept such a God.  But to those who whom God has called, both Jews and Greek, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God stronger than man’s strength (1Cor 1:23)
The cross of Christ provides an example of every virtue:
If you are looking for an example of charity, you find it in the cross for “Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13). This was what Jesus did on the cross. If He gave up His life for us, it ought not to be a burden for us to put up with every evil whatever, it is for His sake.
If you are looking for patience, you will find its highest form on the cross. The greatest of patience is measured by two things, either when someone put up patiently with grievous things or when he suffers things which he could have avoided but did not. Christ suffered greatly and with patience on the cross. When he suffered He did not threaten, like lamb that is led to the slaughterhouse, He opened not his mouth. The patience of Jesus is described by prophet Isaiah in the First reading taken from Isaiah 52:13-53:12.. Here Isaiah described the humble behaviour of the suffering servant. “ and  yet, ours were the suffering he bore,, ours the sorrows he carried. But we  thought of him as someone punished, struck by death and brought low. Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brought us peace and though his wounds we were healed” That is how great the patience of Jesus on the cross was. Let us run with perseverance the race set before us: looking up to Jesus as the pioneer and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame.
If you are looking for an example of humility, look at the cross. There God willed to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die. Though Jesus was God, He humbled himself and became a man to save us. The second reading speak about the humility of Jesus  (cf Phil. 2:6-11)
If you are looking for obedience, follow Him who was obedient to the Father, even unto death: “for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).  The letter to the Hebrew says “Although he was son, He learned to obey through suffering and became for all who obey Him a source of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9).
If you are looking for a model for contempt for earthly things, follow Him who is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords in whom are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He was naked on the cross, derided and spat upon, struck and crowned with thorns, and finally given vinegar to drink. Do not then be attached to fine clothes and riches, for these things do not last.
If you are looking for the example of forgiveness, you will find it in its highest form on the cross of Jesus. Jesus forgave the repentant sinner on the cross. He said “Today you will be with me in the paradise”. He also forgave those who crucified Him. He said “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. Instead of cursing and condemning sinners, Jesus forgave them their sins and saved them. What a challenge for us! How do we react to those who wrong us? Do we forgive, curse or condemn others?
When Jesus died, all creation acknowledged Him. The earth trembled at His death (Cf. Mt. 27:51-54). The curtains of the temple were torn from top to bottom, the rocks split (Mt. 27:51); the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After His resurrection they came out of the tomb and entered the holy city and appeared to many (Mt 25:52-53). The sun hid its rays for “darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon” (Mt 15:33). All these things happened in order to show the importance of the death of Jesus on the cross.
Jesus died on the cross in order to bring us salvation. The questions you and I must ask ourselves are: how have we tried to acquire the salvation Christ brought through His death on the cross? How do we see the cross and how do we react to the crosses of this life? Are we ready to repent or do we take pleasure in sinning? As we live our lives on earth as Christians, we will encounter the cross. The cross may come to us in the forms of suffering, persecution, sickness and rejection. Suffering is part of human nature which we cannot avoid it. When crosses come into our lives, we must accept them, bear them patiently and strive to turn them into glory like Christ. We must always remember that Christianity is a religion of the cross - for a cross-less Christianity is a Christ-less religion. If we put our trust in God like Jesus, God will turn our crosses into glory, our sickness into health, our sorrows into joy, our poverty into riches and our disappointments into appointments.
Today the whole world is suffering. We are suffering from the Pandemic of the corona Virus. The whole world is affected directly or indirectly. As we celebrate Good Friday, let us unite our suffering with the suffering of Christ. Just as Christ was victorious after the suffering we too will become victorious. Christ who know human suffering will not abandon us but will give us the grace to overcome our suffering.
On 30th March during the Eucharistic Adoration led by Pope Francis to end the corona Pandemic, Pope Francis gave a reflection titled “THE CROSS IS OUR HOPE”.
Pope Francis, who spoke about faith and trust in God during a time when people fear for their lives, as did the disciples when their boat was caught in a violent storm.

“We have an anchor: by his cross we have been saved. We have a rudder: by his cross we have been redeemed. We have a hope: by his cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and no one can separate us from his redeeming love,” Francis said.

Embracing Christ’s cross, he said, “means finding the courage to embrace all the hardships of the present time.”

“Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope,”
 Jesus out of loved served his people. At this critical time, we need to love one another and be of service to those who need our services. In his Palm Sunday Message titled  “ Love and service during Covid 19”, Pope Francis called on all Christians to show love and be of service to others.
 The Pope Said “But how did the Lord serve us?  By giving his life for us.  We are dear to him; we cost him dearly.  Saint Angela of Foligno said she once heard Jesus say: “My love for you is no joke”.  His love for us led him to sacrifice himself and to take upon himself our sins.  This astonishes us: God saved us by taking upon himself all the punishment of our sins.  Without complaining, but with the humility, patience and obedience of a servant, and purely out of love.  And the Father upheld Jesus in his service.  He did not take away the evil that crushed him, but rather strengthened him in his suffering so that our evil could be overcome by good, by a love that loves to the very end.

The Lord served us to the point of experiencing the most painful situations of those who love: betrayal and abandonment.
The Father, who sustained Jesus in his Passion also supports us in our efforts to serve.  Loving, praying, forgiving, and caring for others, in the family and in society: all this can certainly be difficult.  It can feel like a via crucis.  But the path of service is the victorious and life-giving path by which we were saved.  According to Pope Francis “God saved us by serving us.  We often think we are the ones who serve God.  No, he is the one who freely chose to serve us, for he loved us first.  It is difficult to love and not be loved in return.  And it is even more difficult to serve if we do not let ourselves be served by God.


Our prayer today is that the Lord will give us the grace to live good lives and may He give us the grace to carry our crosses; so that like Jesus, we may turn them into glory