This Good Friday is unlike any we have ever experienced. Not being able to gather as a congregation to commemorate the passion of Jesus leaves many of you standing like witnesses on the hillside watching the drama from afar. This day was one of great suffering, betrayal, rejection and sadness. However much you may have suffered or been inconvenienced during this quarantine, literally or figuratively, your suffering pales in contrast to what Jesus endured that day. As Isaiah suggests, we do not carry our suffering alone. He tells us, “it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.”
We cannot think of Good Friday without thinking of the suffering that is going on around the world and in our midst. The daily headlines remind us of the impact of the covid-19 virus, not only those filling many hospital beds or dying from this illness, but also the many who are either unemployed or underemployed. Families and friends mourning the loss of a loved one, have to do so without the usual funeral.
How vulnerable we feel during this time, keeping our distance, wearing masks in public, refraining from our usual social endeavors so that we can all stay healthy.
In a recent timely interview when asked about the covid-19 virus, Pope Francis said, “It’s not easy to be confined to your house…Take care of yourselves for a future that will come. And remembering in that future what has happened will do you good. Take care of thenow, for the sake of tomorrow. Always creatively, with a simple creativity, capable of inventing something new each day. Inside the home that’s not hard to discover, but don’t run away, don’t take refuge in escapism, which in this time is of no use to you.”
Imagine how vulnerable Jesus was on the cross, having just endured a gruesome torture, beyond any we can imagine. He really suffered. Don’t fictionalize this event; don’t imagine that he felt pain less than we do. If anything, he suffered more intensely than you and I ever have or ever will.
We will soon gaze upon the wood of the cross. In doing so, we can be stuck in the grief, in the pain, in the shame that is part of our story. But we know how this drama ends. We gather today, not to mourn the death of Jesus but to rejoice that death did not have the final say. We are resurrection people and we know that Easter will soon dawn.
Thus we venerate the cross, not as a symbol of torture but as a symbol of Jesus’ victory over death, over pain, over grief, over addiction, over shame. Sin has been conquered. The forces of hatred prevailed for a day but the real victory of the cross belongs to the ages.
This Friday is called good because we know sin no longer controls our lives. Moved by the example of his self-giving love, we can find new life and meaning in whatever suffering we encounter, knowing that suffering is a human experience God can fully relate to. Jesus died and then rose from the dead so that we could live differently, knowing that our lives are no longer controlled by sin and evil.
As we gaze upon the cross, let us be reminded once again by his example of love and his command to follow his example. May the cross empower us with renewed faith to face whatever suffering we encounter and respond with love, patience and compassion, especially in the weeks ahead. Without denying our grief or anger over unexplained or untimely suffering, be assured that God is walking with us in our pain every step of the way.