Isaiah 52:13-53:12 | Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 | Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 | John 18:1-19:42
This homily has no recording
Delivered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang, Oklahoma
by Deacon Paul Lewis
Jesus Christ loves you;
he gave his life to save you;
and now he is living at your side every day
to enlighten, strengthen, and free you.
These words of Pope Francis perhaps never resonate more than on this day.
These 27 words are at the heart of the Good News.
Too many times we focus on the bloody details of the brutality that Jesus endured.
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is sometimes referred to as a reflection
on what we gather this evening to remember.
If our focus is on the suffering, why in the world would we call this day GOOD Friday?
What do we see when we see Jesus on the cross?
A scourged body, marred by Roman brutality…
Wounds created by spikes driven through wrists and feet…
a man who has been abandoned by those who were closest to him…
a mother whose heart is pierced by a sword of sorrow…
But these things can put a veil over our eyes
and distort the real message of this day.
The goodness of Good Friday
does not eliminate the reality of sin, grief, suffering, and death.
It means those are not the final or ultimate reality of this day, or any day for that matter.
Jesus Christ loves you;
he gave his life to save you;
and now his is living at your side every day
to enlighten, strengthen, and free you.
These words of Pope Francis remind us that
for Jesus the focus is not on suffering and death.
It is on love.
That’s why Jesus can give himself to the cross.
He doesn’t look at the cross,
he sees through it.
Death is not the end.
Jesus trusts the Father’s love more than his own death.
Peter, however, can neither look at the cross nor the one who is dying.
“I do not know him.
I do not know him.
I do not know him.”
Peter fears death is the end.
For Jesus and for himself.
In a sense he’s right.
You see fear, anxiety, confusion, anger, resentment, prejudice…
all of these things and more,
block out love.
Without love death is the end.
Without love the entire earth becomes a tomb.
And we are not much different than Peter.
We cannot help but look at the many crosses
of our lives and world and see sin and brokenness,
suffering, sorrow, tears, loss, and death.
Sometimes we experience it.
Sometimes we do it to others.
Sometimes we do it to ourselves.
There is more to see on this GOOD Friday.
That’s what makes it good.
Jesus’ death tears down the veil of the brokenness and suffering of our lives.
Jesus’ crucified love is stronger and more real than death.
He lives at our side and joins us in our sufferings and dyings…
He enlightens, strengthens, and frees us
and carries us through our trials and tribulations.
The love of Jesus defeats sin and death…
EVERY TIME…
if we will just invite him into our lives.
Each day we must decide…
Will I trust death or will I trust love?
That decision in many ways will determine our world view.
It will decide how we will approach the circumstances of our lives.
It will guide our relationships.
And it will determine whether we will choose to encounter Jesus in our own life.
Love transforms…
Jesus Christ loves you;
he gave his life to save you;
and now he is living at your side every day
to enlighten, strengthen, and free you.
