Jesus knew rejection and betrayal. From his birth there were those who recognized something divine and wonderful was happening, while one sought to take his life as if foreshadowing what his end would be. But before that could take place, God’s mission of love, sent into the world, had to be revealed in its fullness. Recall the words with which St. John begins his Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word,
And the Word was with God,
And the Word was God.
What came to be through him was life,
And this life was the light of the human race.
The light shines in the darkness,
And the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1: 1,3-5)
It must have pained Jesus throughout his ministry that people failed to believe in his message; to believe in him. But in love he always pressed on trusting in the Father’s love, faithfully fulfilling his mission. We are the ones called to believe in him today.
Before his passion, during the Last Supper, Jesus transformed the Passover meal, making it a new and eternal covenant. Making the bread and wine his body and blood allows us to not only experience his love in our midst today, but to be transformed by it. After the meal Jesus washed the feet of his disciples instructing that as he had done for them, they must do for others. Then he went forth to endure his passion and death, thereby offering his life on the cross demonstrating the depths of God’s love for the world; not to condemn, but to save.
The failure of some to believe in Jesus eventually became a concerted effort to take his life. And if this were not difficult enough, Jesus was betrayed with a kiss to them by one of his own, Judas. Peter, the one to whom he would entrust the fragile beginnings of the Church denied him three times, while most of his other disciples drifted away lest they be accused of being one of his friends. Even one of the thieves who hung on a cross beside Jesus mocked him.
Jesus taught and demonstrated at the last supper about the importance of humble service. The lesson of today is love must know no bounds. The true power of God’s love is found in mercy and forgiveness.
In today’s world of growing polarization and division, anxiety and fear, war and exclusion, the message of Jesus this Good Friday is that Forgiveness and Love are always greater than revenge and hate. In this Jubilee Year, we are challenged to not give into doubt, despair or even anxiety, but rather, as St. Paul says: we are called to a “hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us.” (Romans 5:5) precisely because Christ died for us.
Pope Francis in his recent Encyclical about the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus says this:
Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost.
The wounded side of Christ continues to pour forth that stream, which is never exhausted, never passes away, but offers itself time and time again to all those who wish to love as he did. For his love alone can bring about a new humanity. (Pope Francis, Dilexit Nos, 218-219)
My friends, let us gaze through the wounded side of Christ upon the Fire of insatiable love that is his Sacred Heart, that we might find hope for ourselves and for our world. Let us not be selfishly satisfied that we are saved by this love, but let us desire that our hearts radiate with the same love of Christ for our neighbor.
Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost.
The wounded side of Christ continues to pour forth that stream, which is never exhausted, never passes away, but offers itself time and time again to all those who wish to love as he did. For his love alone can bring about a new humanity. (Pope Francis, Dilexit Nos, 218-219)
Let us turn to the Good Thief for the final word. We recognize we are not perfect and our world is wounded beyond recognition.
As the one thief mocks Jesus and tells him to save himself and him, the Good Thief reprimands him and says: “Have you no fear of God”? Let us rediscover this fear of God – which the Scriptures teach is the first stage of wisdom. Let us acknowledge that we are the ones who deserve condemnation for all our sins. Let us today express our gratitude for Christ’s cross and the Love that held him bound to it, by which he has set us free. Let us pray with hope as the Good Thief:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)