Reflection on Today’s Readings, Good Friday, April 15th, 2022
Texts: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 31:2.6.13.15-17; Hebrews 4:14-16;5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42
Today’s gospel reading narrates the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, while the first reading and the second reading help us to understand the meaning and purpose of the passion. The first reading reminds us that Jesus Christ attained Exaltation and glory by submitting to humiliation, that is, by His passion, He was exalted and glorified. It is said, “Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were astonished at him his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men — so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand”. We learn from Jesus Christ that the suffering of the righteous is never in vain; we see in Jesus Christ the eternal value of the suffering of the righteous. This brings to mind the words we have heard several times at the fifth station of the Cross: “’Yes, my dear son, replied Jesus, .... Ah! How I wish you knew the eternal value of the troubles and problems of this life! You do not realise this because you are full of fear, complaints and murmuring against me’.”
The reading also helps us to understand that Jesus did not suffer for Himself but for us. It is said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.” He suffered the punishment due to our sins to make us whole. For you and me, He suffered sorrow, rejection, shame, He was disfigured, He was afflicted. He suffered the displeasure of His Father as it is said, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin”. In His suffering we see how much God detests sins and the kind of condemnation sin brings upon man. We see in the passion of Jesus Christ the kind of punishment we deserve when we sin. We cannot now see what we choose whenever we sin: untold sorrow, rejection, shame, affliction, grief, God’s displeasure, disfigurement, etc.
We also experience the love of God in the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is said, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). This love manifests in giving up His Son to suffer and die for us. The love is unconditional because it was shown to us while we were still sinners and his enemies. St. Paul puts it thus: “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). It is a kind of love that is beyond all telling, for if laying down one’s life for one’s friends is the greatest act of love, what do we call laying down one’s life for sinners, one’s own enemies. It is certainly beyond telling, that some people could call it foolishness. Jesus suffered for sinners. He has always told us thus: “I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners” (Mtt. 9:13). We need to recognise that it was God who suffered in Jesus Christ. God went through all that for you and me. Tell me, what excuse do we have for not yielding our lives to Him!
The suffering of Jesus Christ is the cost of His obedience to the will of His Father. It is clear in His prayer at Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (Mtt. 26:39). It was by this obedience through suffering that He won our salvation. In today’s second reading it is said, “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey.” In my own case, I reject every little discomfort that comes my way in the name of God; I resent every challenge my obedience to God’s will costs me; I am full of complaints and murmuring, arguing always why it should not be so. It is often clear that I am not ready to face any challenge for God. The question is this: When will I give up this negative attitude? I have to give it up now, for tomorrow is not certain; what God has given me now is this moment, He has left tomorrow to Himself. We have to know that obedience to God’s will is not without costs.
Today’s second reading takes up the last words in the first reading: “yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus Christ is fit to intercede for us because He shares from our predicaments. Hence, in the second reading, it is said, “Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” The effectiveness of His intercession is base on two points: 1. He is like us, He shares from our nature and condition; and 2. He is before the Father in heaven, seated at the right hand of glory. While He was on earth in the flesh His prayer was effective, how much more now that He is in heaven before the Father of mercies. We are, therefore, called to approach Him, the throne of mercy. It is said, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear.”
We have seen, today, that the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is a remedy for our sin and the suffering of the righteous is not in vain, just as the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is not in vain but won for us salvation.
Remember your mercies, O Lord, and with your eternal protection sanctify your servants, for whom Christ your Son, by the shedding of his Blood, established the Paschal Mystery. Amen (Collect)
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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