Lk. 19:28-40; Is 50: 4-7; Ps. 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Phil. 2:6-11; Lk. 22:14—23:56
It has begun, the beginning of the end so that a new day may arise in heaven and on earth. The Lord’s Passion begins to bring an end to death, not the death of the body but an end to the death of the soul so that a new day arises to unite with Jesus “the first born among the dead”. The Lord’s Passion is his sacrifice as a sin offering for our sins that we may receive mercy and forgiveness. The Lord’s Passion is also the way of the cross for us to follow in his footsteps as we carry our own cross and make of ourselves a sacrifice for love of God. It is in giving that we receive mercy, love, and new life.
While many are ready to claim victory by riding on the coat-tails of Jesus’ passion they avoid to take up the cross that comes with following him. It is the misconception that “Jesus suffered so that I don’t have to” proclaiming a gospel of prosperity filled only with blessings and avoiding the cross. Jesus did not promise his disciples a life without suffering and history proves the great suffering and sacrifice of their lives as his apostles to the world. Why would we assume anything less for ourselves? Jesus proved that with faith we can have the courage to not be afraid of the cross, face our sacrifice and trust in God who hears and answers our prayers.
In scripture we get the basic story of the crucifixion without to agonizing suffering of the Lord. In the movie The Passion we get a greater sense of the Lord’s suffering, his excruciating pain “drop by drop” drowning in his own body fluids, lifting himself up by the nails on his feet to breathe. It was the most humiliating form of death turning the pain of the body into the passion of the soul, transformed into the love of the Spirit and ending in the mercy of redemption for humanity.
Crucifixion is the Lord’s “Passover” from the dying to self in the mortal body into the presence of the Father. We will undergo our own “Passover” from death of our humanity to judgment in the mercy of God for eternity.
The life of Passover begins with the Passover through all the stages of life from infancy to our mortal death. The final Passover is into eternity. In each stage of life, we leave something behind but we also carry something into the next stage in the formation of the soul. Do you recall the bedtime prayer “No I lay myself to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”. Some believe this is an awful prayer to contemplate death each night. There is as part of living that has an element of death every day. Death can also be a welcome companion. Who would want to go back and do it all over again in life? We may want things to have been different but a “restart” is a little like asking for a heavier cross to bear. The restart is not going back but going forward with the mercy of God. This is our Passover.
There is a human sentiment that the more you enforce justice the less you display mercy and the more mercy is shown the more you suspend justice. Do you agree? Divine mercy and justice are not either/or but both/and happening together. It is the love of Jesus atoning for our sins received by the Father through mercy in the cross. It involves all of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to save one human, to save you and me. Divine justice through Jesus raises humanity to be in union with the Trinity as an act of love and mercy.
In the Seven Last Words (7 phares on the cross) by Jesus he pours out his mercy. We will reflect on his love and mercy in these statements.
The seven phrases: “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”; “Today you will be with me in Paradise”; “Woman, behold your son…Behold your mother”; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”; “I thirst!”; “It is accomplished; “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.”
- “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Abba – daddy vs. Father – Jesus uses the formal name as an expression of an obedient Son. Forgive “Them” includes now “us”, all we do to the Father; the effect of our sin on us, on others, and on our relationship to the Father. The words “know not what they do” imply some innocence or ignorance. Sin is about knowing, being voluntary and willful. This however speaks that on judgement day we will know all the effect we had good or bad in totality. We look at things in microcosm but God sees everything as it is connected to each other, the tapestry of life. Consider someone you went out of your way to help like the good Samaritan. The difference you made is apparent for the immediate but God sees all the ripple effect of our act of mercy. Scott Hawn quotes “Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay”. We all need to seek mercy for what we know and don’t know what we have done.
- “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:23) When the “good thief” says “remember me” it is more than just “don’t forget”, it is a cry for forgiveness, it is seeking a lasting change, an act of conversion on his “death bed”. What is the name of the “good thief”? His name is St. Dismus. A saint! He lived his last moment on the cross as an act of sanctity compared to the other thief. Not only does he confess his guilt but he does a good work in admonishing the sinner “have you no fear”; and he makes a public profession of faith. So, did he steal heaven? Yes and No. a) When Jesus dies, he “descended to the dead/hell” (purgatory) and purgatory is both the mercy and justice of God. b) some translations say he descended into hell; hell is the generic word for two places, one is purgatory where there is hope of heaven and the second is the place of the damned where there is no hope. Ther is no reason for Jesus to go to the damned. They are lost. Dismus was saved from the hell of the damned. c) We can also say where God is there is paradise. So, Jesus promises Dismus that today he would be with him in paradise. We tend to think it is either mercy or justice; the more justice you show the less room for mercy and the more mercy the more you suspend justice. Justice marries mercy on the cross to be one act of divine love. Confessing both forgives and heals opening the door to God’s grace. Divine mercy is our medicine.
- “Woman behold your son…Behold your mother” The love of Jesus for his mother was to care for her even in his dying moments at the same time entrusting on her God’s children to be not only the disciple’s mother but our mother as well. Jesus gave Mary a purpose to continue on for years after his death. Sometimes when we lose a loved one, we feel we have no purpose in living especially if it is those closest to us but God is not done with us yet. We too have a purpose even to our dying moments to bring forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, and peace to everyone we love, to be that witness of love and mercy. As the song by a group called Super Chicks says to those who remain after we lose a loved one “What do we do next? We live, we love, we forgive and never give up because the days we are given are gifts from above and today we remember to live and to love”. This is living in the mercy of God.
- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani”? It is possible that Jesus’ humanity questioned God the Father in his despair and agony with an expression of abandonment. It is also true that in our humanity we question God in our suffering “where are you God”. Jesus being fully human expressed a human emotion of sorrow. It is also true that Jesus is expressing his hope and belief in God the Father by quoting the beginning of Psalm 22. It would be like us saying “The Lord is my shepherd”. It implies the whole prayer not just the beginning. Psalm 22 begins with an expression of lost hope and suffering but ends in victory. Jesus often in the bible refers to God the Father as “Abba” a personal connection of love as “daddy”. Here however, Jesus calls God “Eloi” meaning “Father” with a sense of separation from the Father. It is the same sense of separation Mother Teresa of Calcutta expressed in her diary. Jesus also felt abandoned by his disciples. We too can accept God’s divine purpose for us in our suffering, trusting his Divine mercy that this too will be for his glory and our salvation.
- “I thirst” We cannot minimize the suffering of Jesus on the cross and his asphyxiation, struggle to breathe and thirst for drink. We also cannot simply humanize his words and not look deeper to his message. Jesus taught us to hunger and thirst for righteousness and what would be more valid than a call for righteousness on the cross. Who would not feel “this is not fair”. Who would say that it is fair for one person to pay for the crime of another and yet Jesus does that for us. Jesus prayed in Gethsemani “Father, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done”. Jesus also thirsts for consolation. His mother and disciple are a consolation by his side. Today Jesus thirsts for you and I to come to be at his side. Jesus thirsts for a more intimate communion with you and I. This is Divine mercy to be one with God.
- “It is finished”. The gospel writers avoid getting into the detail of the crucifixion perhaps because of their own sensitivity of how grewsome it was and also because most of the disciples stayed away from witnessing all of it. The movie “The Passion” however does a great work of recreating for us how bloody and painful it is to go through a crucifixion. How much could Jesus have known all that he would suffer in detail before it happened perhaps, he was spared from this. Jesus however had the power to surrender his life, it was not taken from him. It is finished, all that the Father asked of him. It is finished revealing the love and glory of the Father to humanity. It is finished, to do the will of the one who sent him. In the end of our life, we hope we can also join Jesus in proclaiming it is finished with a sense of peace and joy. We have overcome the cross of our lives, our suffering and all the obstacles that we came across. I have done all that I could do as a parent, spouse, employee, in a career and have a sense of completion. We trust in God that others will carry forward the mission as disciples. However, Good Friday makes no sense without Easter Sunday. We may have finished our work having children but we hope to be grandparents; our time is done here in this work but the work continues. There can be no “new beginning without the old being finished.
- “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”. Jesus’ self-surrender, no one takes it from him but he lays it down. We are called to self-surrender to God and hold nothing back. We are called to live in imitation of Jesus. What are we holding back wanting to remain in control of, our family, our wealth, our pride, our “self-actualization”, “look at me”? Look at him not me! How about we surrender to the future of the unknown with trust in God, placing everything into his hands. The disciples did not know the future after Jesus’ death but they trusted and waited for the Lord to reveal himself to them. Jesus can also reveal himself to us in mysterious ways when we seek, we shall find. Waiting until our final days to offer ourselves to God is a life poorly lived. We are to offer ourselves daily and we can close our day praying “into your hands I commend my spirit.” Live with the end in mind.
Conclusion:
The Lord’s Passion is not an end to human suffering but the way of the cross to eternal life. At the same time, Jesus went about healing, teaching, praying, and instructing his disciples. He even raised Lazarus from the dead only for him to later die again. Jesus’ ministry was primarily bringing us a renewal of life in God the Trinity. God who seems unknowable becomes knowable through Jesus.
On the cross Jesus the Son images the Father’s perfect love as not only a just Father but a merciful Father as one in the same with the Son. This is the work of redemption done by all three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bringing everlasting joy. We play a role in redemption when we join our cross to the cross of Jesus as St. Paul states in his letter to the Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body which is the church…” What is lacking is our part in carrying that message of salvation, his mercy, and love. Christ is waiting on us.
“The mercy of God is love reaching out to misery”, the misery of humanity by its’ fallen nature. Surrender our misery to his love and mercy will follow us all the days of our life until we come into his glory in heaven.
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