Good Friday invites us to set aside our regular routines to enter a sacred time of quietness and reflection. Today’s remembrances beckon us to delve deeper into the depths of the unfathomable Paschal Mystery. We are invited to see it in it a sacred cycle inherent in the very fabric of our lives. A pattern relived within our personal ups and downs. Our prayerful reflection seeks to draws us reverently into this mystery. The events of the Passion are an integrated segment of a whole: part of the unfolding mystery of God’s design. Thoughts can easily go awry if we too narrowly try to find the meaning of Jesus’ death apart from his ongoing incarnation, Jesus’ entire earthly life and his resurrection.
I propose that one might consider the writing style of Matthew, Mark and Luke akin to reporters of the daily news. These three writer’s provide the graphic details of Jesus’ passion. Whereas, John’s approach more closely resembles the writing style of a documentary writer who wishes to convey a central message to his audience.
Sandra Schneider describes John’s central message in this manner:
“In the fourth gospel, events are not put forth in terms of sacrifice or retribution but in terms of self-gift: God so loved his own in the world that he laid down his life for them. Jesus’ self-gift was an act of friendship: “no longer do I call you servants…you I have called friends.” John’s gospel’s trilogy of –life, light, and love- captures [this] entire dynamic."
In God’s unfolding design the Word became flesh and lived among us. Jesus graciously took upon himself all that human life entailed. Faithfulness to his mission and message brought him face to face with opposing forces. An opposition strong enough to demand the death sentence of the times. That sentence entailed punishment cruelly meted out in accordance with the methods of the day- crucifixion.
We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be too myopic in our view of Jesus’ death on the cross but rather see it in the context of Jesus’ whole life. Let us treasure the image of the crucified Jesus not as one defined moment, but as the ‘sacrament’ of Jesus’ total life among us. Jesus’ fidelity to his mission without any limits put on the cost. An example for us of a life lived out as total self-gift.
Nancy Wales