Homily 

Good Friday

April 6, 2007

by Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

What we observe today is the saddest event in human history; yet, it is also a day of triumph.  The liturgy today, mingles darkness and light, defeat and victory, sorrow and joy. It is not a funeral, but the affirmation that by dying Jesus destroyed our death. It plunges us into the mystery of baptism which culminates tomorrow night at the Easter Vigil.

In the first reading today we recognize Jesus as the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah. The prophets’ words should echo in our ears – “We thought of him as one smitten, struck down by God. Yet, ours were the sins that he bore and ours the sufferings he carried, and by his wounds, we are healed.” This is the sad dimension of today’s liturgy. We have sinned, and our sins have brought about the terrible execution of God’s beloved Son.

But Jesus did not die in vain. His death is our salvation. Through the sufferings of the Servant – Jesus – we have been justified, and the guilt of our sinfulness he has borne. We hear this conviction echoed in today’s second reading. “Son though he was, he learned obedience through suffering; and when perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” The Suffering Servant was sent by God to empty himself, to pour himself out so that we might know the generous love of God in our lives. God is Emmanuel - God with us. God is redeemer and Savior.

In today’s gospel of St. John we come to know the triumph of the cross. In John’s gospel we do not hear: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as we heard in the Passion Narrative on Palm Sunday. Instead, we hear Jesus at the moment of his arrest identify himself to the cohort as “I AM.”  These words of Jesus establish his identity and divinity, and literally knock his enemies to the ground. These awesome words that Jesus identifies himself with bring us back to Moses and the burning bush where God identifies himself as the one who is the “I AM.” Thus, Jesus is Lord even when he should seem helpless. This fact is  also evident in the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate.  It is Jesus who is in actual command, and Pilate is the one on the defensive.

Then, on the cross, as Jesus hands over his Spirit to the world, he proclaims: “It is finished.” It is he who decides when his work is completed. This is why in a short time we will come forward to venerate the cross. We kiss it, not because it is an instrument of execution, but because it is the means of our salvation. It is through the mystery of the Cross that we are healed. It is through the cross that the ancient enemy is vanquished, not by power, but by justice, not by domination, but by love.

Today’s celebration is more than a historical memory, it is our way of life. At the Easter Vigil tomorrow night we will hear the words of St. Paul tell us that we have been baptized into Christ’s death. The fact is that none of us is a stranger to suffering. Some of us may have experienced great physical pain, while others may have experienced spiritual or psychological pain in our living and life. Some may be looking for a way to cope with life’s anxieties and disappointments. Sin, too, has its way of crippling us, hurting relationships, tormenting our conscience, and stifling our potential. The evil we encounter in the world is sometimes overwhelming to us: wars, corruption in church and state, dishonesty and cheating at work and in school, violence in the streets, disruptions of families that we witnessed in the aftermath of the Michael Bianco factory raid.

What we celebrate today is the fact that sin and death no longer have the last word. Because Christ took upon himself the nature of a slave and became obedient unto death on a cross, God has exalted him; and we, who become like Jesus in the pattern of his death, will also share the likeness of his resurrection.

The final words Jesus speaks from the cross are: “It is finished.” What is finished is that the once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins has been completed. This sacrifice of forgiveness and reconciliation is a gift to us. It comes from both the Father, who so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten Son, and also, from the Son of God, who so loved us that he offered his life in reparation for our disobedience. These last words of Jesus capture the love and obedience that he lived.  It is death that marks the final moment of Jesus’ obedience. But death does not bring his love to an end. The risen and exalted Savior of Easter continues to love us: as we hear in the words of St. Paul: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”