Good Friday: the doorway opens

For the commemoration of the Lord's passion and death, the ultimate sacrifice of love, some thoughts to help us understand the meaning of this day.

One who has passed through the heavens

Throughout the time he had spent with his disciples, Jesus constantly invited them to go out with him … out into the streets of their towns, villages and cities, … out among the people where they witnessed him at work: healing the sick, curing the lame, even restoring life to those who had fallen asleep.  As it was then, so it is now: Jesus walks with us always, inviting us to go out to others, to be living witnesses of his presence, his love, his forgiveness and his joy to those we meet.

Every day, we have a choice to make.  We can look at the world around us with human eyes or we can choose to look out at the world through the eyes of Jesus.  Through human eyes, we would be tempted to think that the adventures we encounter are mere happenstance, but through the eyes of Jesus we come to see Him at work: leading us into situations where we are sometimes called upon to listen attentively and lovingly or to reach out and touch a broken heart with the tenderness of Christ.

So it was that after they had eaten the supper, Jesus went out with his disciples … (Jn 18:1) and the story continued, right where we left off yesterday.  None of them, except for Jesus, could ever have dreamed that within less than a day they would encounter so much: the betrayal of Judas (Jn 18:2-8), Peter’s denial (Jn 18:15-18; 25-27), having to watch the one they loved and respected being subjected to questioning and trial before Annas (Jn 18:19-23) and Pilate (Jn 18:28-19:16), witnessing his flogging and the mockery he faced before the guards (Jn 19:1-3), and then the ultimate shame of crucifixion (Jn 19:17-42).

Seen through human eyes, the events of that day would seem to be beyond belief: the stuff of a really bad day.  If that was all there was to the story, it would have ended long ago, and we would not be gathered here today.  Instead, seen through the eyes of faith, this is a story of ultimate triumph.  Even the prophet Isaiah foretold that the servant of the Lord would startle many nations; that kings would shut their mouths because of him; that what had been told them they would see, and that which they had not heard they would contemplate (Is 52:15).

So it is with us.  We have a choice to make every day.  We can choose to look at the world through human eyes and to believe that life unfolds as a series of unplanned events, or we can look with eyes of faith and dare to discover the hand of God at work.  If we do, the words Jesus uttered from the cross find renewed meaning: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Lk 23:46).  These are the words of one who has spent countless hours in prayer, carefully cultivating a relationship of trust with his Father.  These are the words of one who knows that death on a cross is not the end of the story, but rather the opening of a doorway that leads into eternal life.

Dearest brothers and sisters: since we have a great high priest who has passed through the doorway into heaven – whose name is Jesus – let us hold fast to our confession.  For … Jesus has already been tested in every respect as we are, except without sin (Heb 4:14-15).  Therefore we can approach the throne of grace with boldness, and trust that we will receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).