Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr Antonio Pernia SVD – Rome, Italy
Good Friday / The Passion of the Lord – Paschal Triduum
Today we contemplate Jesus hanging on the cross on Calvary. As we do so, we hear an echo of the words of Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus to the crowd: “Ecce Homo.” (Behold the Man). The man, indeed! For Jesus on the cross represents every human being. His crucifixion epitomizes the deepest abyss that the human being can fall into—betrayal and abandonment, injustice and violence, failure and downfall, pain and brokenness, suffering and death.
Jesus on the cross also reveals the Father. We do seem to hear the words: “Ecce Deus.” (Behold God). And on the cross, God is revealed not as the unreachable, unconcerned, unchanging god of Greek-Roman philosophy, majestic in his distant throne on Mt. Olympus. Rather, God is revealed as someone who loves the world that he gives his only Son (Jn 3,16) so that the world may have life and have it more abundantly (Jn 10,10).
The renowned Rabbi Yitzak of the Ukraine tells the story about how he learned the meaning of love from two drunken peasants. One time, he entered a tavern in a village in the Ukraine. And there in the tavern he saw two peasants Ivan and Peter, at a table. They were already by their tenth glasses of wine. And they were professing to each other how much each loved the other. Then suddenly, Ivan, asked Peter; “Peter, do you know what hurts me?” Peter, surprised by the question, shrugged his shoulders, threw his hands in the air and said: “How can I know what hurts you?” The response of Ivan was quick. He said: “If you do not know what hurts me, how can you say you love me?”
With the cross of Jesus, God is telling us that he knows what hurts us. Betrayal, abandonment, violence, suffering, death. His love for us is not just platonic or merely emotional. His love for us is for real—letting go of his only Son, giving up the “only thing he has” and thus pouring out his very self for our sake. God knew what hurts us and sent his Son to heal the wound.
Thus, the cross of Jesus is the sign of utter human pain, injustice and misery on one hand, it is also, and a sign of unconditional love, care, and concern on the other hand. “And they will look upon him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19,37).
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