Good Friday 2008, Many Voices Shout

Good Friday

March 21, 2008

John 19: 1-15

The Gospel reading[s around the crucifixion are ones of enormous paradox and tension. We are presented with a wrenching picture: Christ, the Creator, the Divine I AM, is reduced in mockery to the caricature of a king. They dress Him in royal purple. His crown is of thorns, his scepter a reed with which is himself is struck.

And yet ringing through the whole account are words of great truth. Some truths are spoken in malice by half-consciousness human beings. They convey an irony and truth of which the speakers are unaware. They say for instance, ‘It is necessary that one man should die for the people’. Or, ‘nothing deserving of death has been done by him.’

And through it all, Christ stands, absorbing their hatred and their blows. He even clarifies the proceedings in the beginning by speaking the great truth that ultimately justifies for them their execution: “I am the Son of God.” In speaking these words, He gives them what they need to make happen what He came to do.

The players in this great world drama all represent parts of the human being: in each of us there is a high priest who upholds tradition, the way thing are and must remain. In all of us there is also a Pontius Pilate, put in a position of discernment, who tries to do the right and just thing and fails, overwhelmed by impossible forces far beyond his own control.

And within and among all of us there stands the Christ, gently steering the whole procedure, speaking the great truths of His eternal existence, patiently bearing our own denials of Him and our weaknesses. He has placed Himself at our feet, guiding our steps, cleansing our way, turning our failures into positive strength. He is sovereign, a king over the world of truth. “For this I was born,” he said, “and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Jn 18:37 The truth is: that He embodies love.

We are subject to the shouting of many voices in our lives, some of them from within our own souls. Some of these voices would enslave, deny, and destroy us. But we can also hear the voice of truth amid the noise. Yet facing and doing what truth reveals can require great courage. For the greatest aim of a human life is to love God back with all that we have.

Thomas Aquinas wrote,

I said to God, “Let me love you.

And He replied, “Which part?”

“All of you, all of you”, I said.

“Dear,” God spoke ….”It is a feat way

beyond your courage and strength.

You would run from me

if I removed my

mask.”

I said to God again,

“Beloved I need to love you—every aspect, every pore.”

And this time, God said,

“There is a hideous blemish on my body,

though it is such an infinitesimal part of my Being—

could you kiss that if it were revealed?”

“I will try, Lord, I will try.”

And then God said,

“That blemish is all the hatred and

cruelty in this

world.”[1]

God’s love is so great that it can embrace hatred and cruelty. We are in the process of growing a love that capable. Sometimes the truth is spoken through the mouths of even our enemies. Again, Thomas Aquinas:

every truth, without exception—no matter

who makes it—is from God.[2]

Christ’ whole life and death summed up the greatest aim of the human soul—to love God with all we have, and to love others as ourselves. In truth, they are the same. For, just as He is in us, Christ is in everyone else as well, in that which is patient and long-suffering, forgiving.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Thomas Aquinas, “Could You Embrace That? in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 136.

[2] Thomas Aquinas, “On Behalf of Love”, Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky,, p. 123.