Good Friday

All of us long for an easy and fairly sudden death when it comes, not a sickly, prolonged death. Why did Jesus choose the most painful death and why did he not choose a death by cutting the throat if shedding blood was an important element of redemption?

One of the things to be remembered is that the crucifixion was already foretold by Isaiah even before the Assyrians and Babylonians (6th century B.C.) and the Romans (3rd Century BC) invented this most cruel mode of punishment.

As we contemplate Our Lord crucified today, we behold a tragedy, the tragedy of an innocent man publicly executed. Jesus’ only “crime” was to identify himself as the Messiah, and that’s who he was; he did so to the Sanhedrin, so they decided to have him killed, and he was handed over to Pilate, who sentenced him to death.[We take the name of Pilate in our creed to tell that this incident was a historical fact, with reference and historians mentioning it].

Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant, of the first reading, is a description of Christ raised on the Cross: “…my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted…so marred was his look beyond human semblance…so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless…”

He takes the punishments we deserve upon himself: “he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins”

Jesus doesn’t just say, “never mind, I forgive you”; he hands himself over to evil men to be tortured and executed. He teaches us how horrible the effects of sin are, not just to us, but to him, and that our sins have consequences.

Yet Isaiah also reminds us that by his wounds we are healed. His suffering is not in vain. He has won pardon for our sins. The prophecy of Isaiah about the suffering servant of God is a contentious point for the Jews of the present time because this prophecy is not yet fulfilled in their bible, if Jesus is not accepted as a Prophet in Judaism. Many Jews turned to Christianity lately because they found the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Jesus. The last prophet of Judaism was Malachi who prophesied around 515 BC and since then there were no prophets in Israel and since about 2500 years no prophets and for about 1950 years, no temple, which was the focal point of Judaism, and for their sacrifices? So, where is Judaism, did God abandon them? Did He not keep His promises to them? God kept his promises, but they failed to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah in Christ. The Jews are like someone at the train station wanting to catch a particular train for a destination, the train comes but he could not read the signs properly, so he doesn’t board the train and the train leaves and he is still waiting for his train to come.

 

Good Friday tells us that our God is not only loving and merciful but also just. These two virtues are not balanced in any god and in any other religion, just only in Christianity. If one is perfectly just, he cannot be totally merciful if he is a judge. Simply saying you are forgiven because you said sorry does not fulfill the demands of justice. He should make you pay for it. He will be merciful but not just. However, a just God who knew your inability to pay for the loss, came out and paid for the loss, from the side of the offender by taking our human form. That is the reason when the scripture says Jesus took on our human flesh to become like us in all things, but sin. If he was sinful then he could not pay for the debt from living in sin.

One of the things we need to remember is that any sin we commit, especially the mortal sin is against God before it is towards anyone else. This is because He is the creator and loves every person more than that person cares about himself or herself. Any sin against God assumes a gravity of humungous proportion because it is against God’s sublime Holiness. Therefore no human person is able to repair the damage except someone of God’s caliber. That is the reason Jesus had to become a human being and pay for the human debt. The implication of the Greek words of Jesus on the cross: Tetelestai, meaning it is completed/ it is finished. Its meaning is not, I am finished. But, his mission is finished. When someone paid back a debt the deed was marked at the end: Tetelestai, meaning paid in full. Thus God manifested himself as just and merciful God by Jesus’ death on the cross: Paid in full for our debt of sin.

On the cross, Christ is trusting his Father for us, in our place. He is reversing Adam's lack of trust. As the letter to the Hebrews expressed it: "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered..." Christ's limitless trust in God rebuilt the bridge between us and God that Adam's lack of trust had destroyed.

 

Death, suffering, and sorrow were not part of God's original plan for humanity; they only showed up after original sin. However, God knew this would have to happen when free will was granted to man who would choose for himself, what is good and evil for him instead of following God’s will.  That is the cause of every evil in the world. Therefore, we can say God is the cause of evil in the world, because God gave man the free will. If he did not give him the free will, he would not be a loving God who would want man to love Him freely. Forced obedience and love are not genuine. However, God restored to man in Christ much more than he lost by his original sin. That is why St. Augustine exclaimed: O happy fault of Adam.

 

When dying Jesus cried out I thirst. Jesus’ thirst was more for souls who really thirst for God, who love God. All Christians are to be missionaries who satiate this thirst of Christ by preaching him, mainly through their exemplary and transparent Christian lives, and drawing others to love and believe in Him. On this Good Friday, when we can keep our head high because we are no longer under the yoke of Satan and sin, we can look at the crucified savior and his cross and say: Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world.