Sinless in the Sinner's Stead

Good Friday

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion

Rosary Monastery, St. Ann’s

22 April 2011

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

John 18:1-19:42

          “By force and by law he was taken; would anyone plead his cause?”

I often wonder just how ready you and I are to identify with the Lord Jesus delivered up for all of us. Without even wishing to be too radical about it all, I wonder how many of us would be ready to face jail or some other curtailment of our civil rights for the sake of defending the truth, let us say against a government which does not defend the defenseless (by promoting abortion or mercy-killing of those who cannot speak for themselves) or against any earthly power which deprives me of choices which are fundamental choices and in conformity with the teaching of the Church and the dictates of my conscience as informed and enlightened by God’s law. Could I face the persecution many of my Catholic brothers and sisters face in countless countries around the world today?

“By force and by law he was taken; would anyone plead his cause?”

“It’s just not fair!” We hear said over and over again. Most of us spend a goodly amount of time rebelling against the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”. Life should be decent we claim, decent and dignified for one and all. And yet Jesus was taken, and very much alone with none to defend Him, Jesus was indeed taken “by force and by law”: He the sinless one in the sinner’s stead.

“During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.”

That the Father heard the Son’s prayer is sure; it is our faith which teaches us this. He hears the prayers of all who identify with His Son in the very same way. Good Friday is a meditation on His terrible and undeserved suffering, which He shouldered just as He shouldered the Cross, for the sake of the life of the world. Jesus humbled Himself that we, sinful humanity who turn to Him, that we might be exalted in Him. If we share His Cross we will share His Glory.

Why do we venerate the wood of the Cross today? What is the sense or what meaning should that genuflection, that bow have? How can we explain that kiss for the wood today, of our crucifix which is a remembrance of the Cross drenched with His Blood so long ago? What kind of a statement are we making? Does it come from the heart? Or is it just a simple and unthinking gesture, little more than one of the many quick swishes of the hand and arm with which we bless ourselves each day? Or does this veneration of the Cross touch our souls and say clearly where we want to go with our lives? Our veneration of the Cross should be our way of saying by gesture: “Jesus, I am with You, with You all the way to the Cross”!

          I really don’t want through more words than that to detract from your individual meditation on Jesus’ love for us as evidenced in His Sacrifice for us upon the Cross, but I would like your honoring His Cross to be, yes, a thank you, yes, a sign of affection for Him on your part, but also a yes, here am I, Lord, I come to do your will. I pray that your veneration of the Cross today would be a “yes” to the invitation from Jesus that we become a new creation in Him, that we set our hearts on His world, on the life of the world to come, that we bind ourselves without reservation to Jesus, just as for our sake Jesus allowed Himself to be bound to the Cross.

“We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and the Lord burdened him with the sins of all of us. Harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers never opening its mouth [] by force and by law he was taken; would anyone plead his cause?”

It may be that we expect too much out of this life in terms of justice and fairness, maybe not, maybe we live in quiet desperation, hoping for little or nothing. The point is that in one direction or the other we have strayed and most certainly we have failed to bind our lot in this world to Christ and to His Cross. Let us turn together in repentance and in hope to Him Who reigns, Who rules the whole world upon that life-giving Tree. Behold the Wood of the Cross!

The Triumph of the Cross

Good Christian Expectations

Numbers 21:4-9

Philippians 2:6-11

John 3:13-17

          What do you suppose it took the people in the wilderness, after their sin and God’s punishment sending deadly serpents among them, to convince them to look up to the bronze serpent on a standard and live? How did Moses get the message across of God’s mercy in their need? We sometimes claim that we have gotten beyond the scandal of the Cross, which troubled Jews and Gentiles alike in St. Paul’s time. Have we done so or does that unwillingness to embrace the Cross and Christ’s victory on Calvary continue to plague us even today?

          Lots of thoughts could pass through one’s head on this feast day, but I’d like to concretize my reflection by marveling a bit at an exchange I had on the phone this morning with a very pious woman. After sharing with me the details of a recent brush with death and asking prayers for an upcoming surgery, she confided that she had issued the Lord an ultimatum claiming finally again for herself some good health and a more active social life, after months of hospital and home confinement, physical therapy and what not.

          People talk this way. While it is certainly comprehensible, just as God’s people did in the wilderness is not our losing patience in the midst of hardship also wrong? Is it not punishable as it was in the case of the people who spoke against God and against Moses, wishing to have back their old life in Egypt? Do we not avert our eyes from His Cross and suffering to our own peril? Doesn’t bending the knee at the name of Jesus bring us face to face with Jesus lifted up on the Cross? Can we refuse Him company? Can we reject a non-negotiable share in His suffering?

          On Good Friday we sing “Sweet the Wood and Sweet the Nails”. Are they so only for Him or also for us as we enter into His Passion and Death? Wherein is to be found the Triumph of the Holy Cross for me in poverty or pain, in sickness, in suffering and in death?

          How indeed did Moses convince that first person bitten by the seraph serpent to look up at the bronze serpent and live? Did it take only Moses’ word and one obedient person saved to convince all others to turn to the bronze serpent and live? What does it mean to believe in Jesus lifted up for our salvation like that bronze serpent in the wilderness? Wherein lies the triumph of the Cross for me in my life?

          The issue is not one of simply admonishing folk not to complain amidst hardship. The call or challenge is to leave old Egypt behind with no regrets and without complaint, fixing our gaze on the new Moses, Jesus, who mounts the standard Himself and leads us not to a momentary reprieve from physical suffering and death but leads us into His Kingdom and everlasting life. It’s a matter of recognizing as an act of hope looking upon the One pierced for our offenses.

          I would never condemn anyone for seeking a respite. The problem arises when hoping for the respite is all that seems to matter, when getting back to Egypt (contrary to God’s plan for us) becomes primary.

          The Cross is no less scandalous than it was in St. Paul’s time. Even among the people, God’s people, the baptized, there are those who would avert their gaze from the One Who has claimed His victory for the Father by being handed over, lifted up and pierced through upon the Cross.

Yet he who is full of compassion

Forgave their sin and spared them.

So often he held back his anger

When he might have stirred up his rage. (Ps. 77)

          Forgive, Lord! Forgive!