As we listen to the Passion from the Gospel of John today, we can imagine the uncertainty and fear Jesus’ followers felt. We have been journeying with Jesus during Lent. Many of us have been praying the stations of the cross each Friday during Lent, commemorating that Jesus died on a Friday. On Good Friday, Jesus’ followers knew that this was the day that he suffered and died, even though most were not present, having scattered in fear. For his followers, the same man who had performed healing miracles and had spoken of himself as the resurrection was now dying on the cross. Jesus was crucified as if he were a notorious criminal. Jesus’ followers had placed all their hope in the future in him. In the midst of the chaos and violence of Good Friday, his followers seem to have forgotten his promise to come back to them. They felt lost, directionless, and abandoned. Yet, in John’s Gospel, Jesus promises his disciples before he commences his passion: “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.” In this past challenging year, I am sure all of us have been feeling all kinds of emotions. This may include things like anger, frustration, confusion, despair, abandonment, isolation, desperation, and weariness. At times we may have felt lost and directionless like many of Christ’s followers on Good Friday. The promise Jesus made to his followers echoes in our hearts today on Good Friday: I will not leave you alone. I will come to you. But, at times during the pandemic, at times during the shut-down and the remain-at-home orders, Jesus promises may have felt very far away from our reality. But his promises were indeed there.
We are called to have hope today. In the death of Christ, in the confusion and fear of his followers, in the cross of Christ crucified, the goodness of God reaches out to us: the hope of resurrection and the hope of new life. As we commemorate Good Friday today in the midst of a very challenging year, we are called to think of the reality of Good Friday: That Good Friday was not the end; that Easter Sunday was yet to come.
In Good Friday, the moment of death is at the same time a moment of new life. This hopeless moment was the moment when eternal hope was given. This terrible moment of injustice was at the very same time a moment of God’s grace. This moment of excruciating suffering guaranteed that suffering would end one day, once and for all. This moment of sadness welcomed us to God eternal joy. The capture and death of Christ at the same time purchased for us life and freedom. This is a solemn and serious day, but it paves the way for Easter joy.
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