Good Friday

Good Friday A B C

Readings: Isaiah 52:13‑53:12   Hebrews 4:14‑16; 5:7‑9  

 John 18:1‑19:42

            The readings for Good Friday present us with Jesus as the obedient Servant and Son of God who lays down his life for the life of the world.  Although all three readings allude to both the suffering and the triumph of the passion, there is a progression from a meditation in the Isaiah reading on the poignant sufferings of God's servant, to the consolation in the Hebrews reading of having in Jesus a sympathetic high priest whose obedient death has sealed a new covenant, and finally to the life‑giving triumphant of Jesus' death as the new Lamb of God in John's passion story.  The responsorial psalm assigned for this day (Psalm 31) is a lament of a righteous sufferer which invites us to enter the stark reality of Jesus' trustful embrace of his Father at the moment of death.  “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Ps 31:6).

            The first reading is taken from the fourth of the so‑called Servant Songs of Second Isaiah.  It begins and ends with God's voice (Isa 52:13‑15; 53:11‑12) announcing the triumph of the suffering servant and the salvation he will bring to the startled nations.  The central section (53:1‑10) is a confession by a group that has witnessed the ignominious life and death of the servant and now realizes that his sufferings were borne, not for his own sins, but for theirs.  They confess: “We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all” (Isa 53:6).

            This confession of a new understanding of God's servant was undoubtedly influenced by the suffering of prophets like Moses, Jeremiah and possibly second Isaiah himself.  In retrospect, the Israelite community can see that the servant's sufferings in fidelity to his mission have brought life to the exilic community.  The servant brings salvation for others by voluntarily offering his life as a sacrifice to atone for "the sins of the many."

            The Hebrews reading from chapters 4‑5 continues the theme of salvation through suffering by exhorting us to "confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to find help in time of need" (Heb 4:16).  According to the author of Hebrews, Christians may do this because in Jesus they have a sympathetic high priest who knows weakness and temptation.  Although Hebrews presents the resurrected Jesus as the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, it also stresses that in his earthly existence Jesus was perfected through suffering, obedience and testing.  Jesus did not exercise an earthly priesthood by offering animal sacrifices in the temple; rather, in the flesh he learned to be an obedient Son.

            The second part of the reading (5:7‑9) probably alludes to Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he offered "prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to God" as he faced death in trust that God could save him.  Only through his obedient endurance of death in faith did the Son become perfected so that he might become the source of eternal salvation for all who follow him in obedience.

            John's passion account is the story of Jesus' movement to glory.  Although it contains many incidents familiar from the synoptic tradition, they are handled in a way consistent with John's theology of glory.  In the arrest in the garden, for example, (18:1‑14) there is no hint of agony; Jesus has come to the hour of his glory (12:27‑32) and he is in complete control as the Good Shepherd who begins to "lay down" his life only to take it up again (18:4; see 10:17‑18).  When the band of soldiers approaches, Jesus asks them "Whom do you seek?' to which they respond, "Jesus of Nazareth" (18:4‑5).  When Jesus answers with the solemn "I am he," they draw back and fall to the ground before his divine presence.  Jesus then gives the soldiers permission to take him, but, as the shepherd who "has not lost one of those you gave me," Jesus commands them to let his disciples go.  When Peter tries to fight to prevent Jesus' arrest, he says, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" (18:11).

            John's account of the trials before the high priest and Pilate presents a much more loquacious and regal Jesus than do the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke).  Using dramatic irony, John makes the trials scenes dialogues in which Jesus turns the tables on his accusers and convicts them for failing to believe in him.  For example, when the high priest questions Jesus "about his disciples and his teaching," Jesus challenges him to question his believing disciples: "I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together; I have said nothing secretly. Why do you ask me?  Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them; they know what I said" (18:20‑21).

A word about John's treatment of "the Jews" here and throughout his gospel is in order at this point.  Unfortunately, John's gospel was written during a period of hostility between church and synagogue (see John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2), and this has influenced his portrayal of the Jews throughout the gospel.  To prevent the possibility of anti-Semitism which would hold the Jewish people as a whole responsible for the death of Jesus, readers might us such phrases as "the religious leaders" or "the Jewish authorities" throughout the passion reading.

            The trial before Pilate revolves around the issue of Jesus' kingship and whether it is of this world or not.  In the end, both the Jewish authorities and Pilate will by their words and actions affirm that they are subjects of Caesar, a king of this world, rather than of Jesus, and will thus condemn themselves.   When Jesus is questioned by Pilate about the nature of his kingship (18:33‑36), Jesus challenges him to believe in the truth of his divine kingship which he has borne witness to (18:37‑38), and later he assures Pilate that he would have no power over him "unless it had been given you from above" (19:11).  The Jewish leaders on the other hand, threaten Pilate by saying, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend; everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar" (19:12).  The trial scene ends with both judging themselves by choosing Caesar's kingship.  When Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd with the words, "Behold your King!" they ask for his crucifixion and say, "We have no king but Caesar" (19:14‑15).  At this point Pilate capitulates to their earlier threat and hands Jesus over to be crucified (19:16).  In the end, however, Pilate becomes an unbelieving witness of the truth of Jesus' identity.  He places a title on the cross in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek which reads, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" (19:19‑20).  When the chief priests try to force him to change it to read "This man said, I am King of the Jews," Pilate refuses by saying, "What I have written I have written" (19:21‑22).

            John's portrayal of the crucifixion is consistent with his theology of glory.  Jesus does not really suffer on the cross; he reigns as he enters his glory with the completion of the task given him by his Father.  Jesus is "the Good Shepherd" who lays down his life to take it up again (10:17‑18), "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (1:29,36), and the source of living waters (4:13‑15; 7:38).  Rather than having to be assisted by Simon of Cyrene (Mk 15:21; Matt 27:32; Lk 23:26), Jesus carries his own cross to Golgotha (19:17), and dies with the words "It is finished" (19:30).  The time of his death is a day earlier than in the Synoptic Gospels so that Jesus, as the Lamb of  God, dies on the day of Preparation for the Passover, just as the  lambs would be slain in the temple (19:31).  Like the lambs used for Passover who were not to have a bone broken (19:36; Ex 12:46), Jesus' legs are not broken when the soldiers discover that he is already dead (19:33‑37).  Instead, his side is pierced and blood and water flow out‑‑ the fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (19:37).

            Finally, in contrast to the picture in the Synoptic Gospels where Jesus is deserted by his disciples and the women stand at a distance (Mk 15:40‑41), in John there are believers, including his mother and the beloved disciple, standing by the cross (19:21).  Jesus speaks with them and commends his mother and the beloved disciple to one another's care‑‑ a symbol of the love the community he is leaving behind is to have (19:26‑27; see 13:34‑35; 14:18‑21; 15:10‑17).