http://www.tkayala.com/2012/04/good-friday-2012.html
http://www.tkayala.com/2013/03/good-friday.html
From Sermons.com:
http://www.tkayala.com/2012/04/good-friday-and-easter.html
Stories:
http://www.homilystories.in/2014/04/good-friday-cross.html
| From Father James Gilhooley |
A Russian peasant woman in 1950 was kissing the feet of
Christ. A Communist soldier asked her, "Grandmother, will you kiss the
feet of our great leader, Comrade Stalin?" "Yes," she replied,
"if he gets crucified for me." Years ago, when I was newly ordained, a mother berated me
after a Good Friday homily on the crucifixion. The mother had two children.
"I don't want my son and daughter" she shouted, "exposed to
blood and gore as I was at their age." She was terribly angry. My response
would not have made my seminary scripture professor proud had he been
listening. In effect, this mother wanted to keep Jesus and the cross apart. Would that the mother had confronted William Robinson of
Plainview, USA on this same point! I ran across his Letter to the Editor in a
Catholic newspaper. Mr Robinson was responding to a pronunciamento from a one time
Catholic. It was her position that the Church for its own good must get Jesus
off the cross. Robinson countered that St Paul did precisely that when he
visited Athens. The scene is generously described in Acts 17:16-34. There the
man from Tarsus ignored the cross of the Savior. His sole emphasis was on the
Resurrection. And the result? Paul struck out that day against the
Athenian intellectuals. "Some of them burst out laughing." (17:32)
This was hardly the reaction the embarrassed apostle to the Gentiles was used
to. He folded his tent and sneaked from the city under the cover of darkness.
He crossed Athens off his "must return" list. Records reveal he did
not change his mind. He never began a church there. Nor, unhappily for them and
for us, did he ever send one of his celebrated letters to Athens. After Athens, he headed for Corinth. It was an arduous trip
by foot. Paul had much time to both dress his wounds and wonder why he had lost
his magic touch. It is not difficult to picture the humiliated missionary
praying to Christ. He would ask Him to help him understand what went wrong with
his strategy on the Hill of the Areopagus. Nor did the Nazarene fail him. The Holy Spirit inspired the missionary to burn his Athens
homilies. His approach in Corinth would be entirely fresh. Before he reached
the city, he put his talented pen to parchment. His plan B would be later
explained in his letters to the church he founded in Corinth. "Jews demand
signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified...the power of God
and wisdom of God...I am resolved among you to know nothing but Christ and Him
crucified." Paul's preaching in Corinth was successful. The city was
every bit as immoral as Athens. Yet, he was a sensation. His many converts
would not let him quit their city for eighteen months. When the wanderlust Paul
got away from them, he would carry warm memories of the Corinthians. Evidence
of this affection is found in the two letters to them that are extant. When the
apostle to the Gentiles turned his back on the crucified Christ, his preaching
produced nothing. When he carried the crucifix with him into the pulpit, he
moved thousands to embrace Jesus. Mel Gibson on Ash Wednesday of 2004 proved once again
people's fascination with the cross through his film, "The Passion of the
Christ." People, who had forgotten where cinemas were located in their
communities, clutched reserved seat tickets looking for the theaters. To
satisfy the overflow crowds, delighted cinemas began running the film early
morning. One hundred twenty-five million dollars in tickets were sold in five
days. All this for a film spoken in Latin and Aramaic dialogue. What would Paul have accomplished among the intellectuals
had he returned to Athens but this time emphasizing the cross? Unhappily we
shall never know. Nobel Prize laureate Czeslaw Milosz writes that political
prisoners in their USSR gulags fashioned a cross from twigs and prayed to it at
night in their cells. They had not forgotten Paul's lesson. Nor should we. “Tetelestai” (τετέλεσται
= Greek), זה נגמר “ze nigmar” (Hebrew) ,
=m’shalam(Aramaic) John 19:30. v. 28: After this, aware that everything was now
finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled,* Jesus said, “I
thirst.” 29. There was a vessel filled with common wine.* So they put a sponge
soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. 30. When
Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.”(Ecce consummatun est=
Latin) And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Suffering and death of Jesus on the cross: Crucifixion
probably first began among the Persians. Alexander the Great introduced
the practice in Egypt and Carthage, and the Romans appear to have learned of it
from the Carthaginians. Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion, they
perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to
produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering. It was one of the
most disgraceful and cruel methods of execution and usually was reserved only
for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals. Jesus was
crucified. He was nailed to a cross with heavy, square wrought-iron
nails hammered through His wrists and through His feet. He hung on the cross
for several hours. When His body slumped, excruciating, fiery pain would shoot
along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain - the nails in the
wrists were putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushed himself upward
to avoid this stretching torment, He placed the full weight on the nail through
His feet. Again He felt the searing agony of the nail tearing through the
nerves between the bones of the feet. As His arms fatigued, cramps swept
through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With
these cramps came the inability to push Himself upward to breathe. Air could be
drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fought to raise himself in order to
get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide built up in the lungs and in
the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided. Spasmodically, He was able
to push himself upward to exhale (and speak, if He wished), and to bring in
life-giving oxygen. Hours of this limitless pain passed, with cycles of
twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation and searing
pain as tissue was torn from His lacerated back by His movement up and down
against the cross' rough upright. Then another agony began: a crushing pain
deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly filled with serum and began to
compress the heart. It was now almost over - the loss of tissue fluids had
reached a critical level - the compressed heart was struggling to pump heavy,
thick, sluggish blood into the tissues - the tortured lungs were making a
frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He then felt the chill of death
creeping through his tissues... Finally He was able to allow his body to die.
(Crucifixion, Adapted From C. Truman Davis, M.D., in The Expos. Bible
Commentary, Vol. 8) Tetelestai: At three o’clock, Jesus said
He was thirsty. A soldier fixed a sponge on a spear and held it up to His lips.
He took it (John 19: 30). Then, straining to raise His head and to
look up to heaven Jesus said: m’shalam "It is finished." Then he
bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John wrote his Gospel in Greek, and
those last words of Jesus are just one word in Greek – tetelestai (pronounced
te-tel-es-sty). The expression "It is finished," or tetelestai was
well known to the Palestinians because it was a part of everyday language. When
Jesus had put the final touches on an agricultural instrument in His carpentry
shop, He would stand up and declare to His mother in Aramaic,
"m’shalam" (tetelestai in Greek), -- is lunch ready,
Mom?" When a slave servant had completed a difficult job that his
master had given him to do, he would say to the master "m’shalam" –
tetelestai – “I have done the job to the best of my ability. It is
finished". When the Jewish people went to the Temple with their sacrifice,
the High Priest would examine it and say the Aramaic equivalent of tetelestai,
namely, "m’shalam,” or “ze nigmar” (in Hebrew) meaning,
"Your offering is accepted; it is perfect". When the merchant in the
marketplace made a sale and the money was handed over, he would say,
"m’shalam" or "tetelestai – "The deal is finished,
complete. The price has been paid in full. I am satisfied". When an artist
had finished a painting or a sculpture, he would stand back and say, tetelestai
or "m’shalam" – "It is finished; there is nothing more that can
be done to make this piece of art any better. This painting is complete."
When a boy recited to his father a difficult passage he had learnt from the
Scriptures or a girl showed her mother the bread she had baked for the family,
each child would say "m’shalam" or tetelestai and the parents would
respond with, "Well done, my child, I am very proud of you." What did Jesus’ tetelestai mean? 1) Tetelestai - A perfect sacrifice of
atonement is finished: What Jesus really meant was that His job of saving the
world had been completed by His offering of Himself on the cross as a perfect
sacrifice. Jesus had paid the price in full – he had cancelled all of the debt
mankind owed to God. His sacrifice had been a perfect one, acceptable to the
heavenly Father. That is why Isaiah 53:10 calls our Savior a “guilt offering;”
why John the Baptist calls Him the Lamb “who takes away the sin of the
world” (John 1:29); why Paul calls him a “sacrifice of atonement,” (Romans
3:25), a “sin offering,” (Romans 8:3), a “Passover lamb,” (1 Corinthians 5:7) a
“fragrant offering” (Ephesians 5:2) and a “sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews
10:12); and why John calls him “the atoning sacrifices for our sins” (1 John
2:2; 4:10). Thus, looking down on His Son hanging lifeless on the
cross, God the Father said, "Well done. You are My beloved
Son; I am well pleased with Your perfect sacrifice." Hence, these last
words of Jesus: Tetelestai -- "It is finished," are seen as a cry of
victory. Jesus had now completed what he had come to do. A plan was
fulfilled; salvation was made possible. He had offered himself fully to God as
a sacrifice on behalf of humanity. As He died, it was finished. 2) Tetelestai - Reconciliation is accomplished:
The word ‘reconciliation’ has been used a lot in connection with the
relationship between the aboriginal people of America and the rest of the
community. The terrible things that happened in the past have caused a rift between
the native Indians and the intruding whites, and later between the black slaves
from Africa and their white owners. Efforts have been made to heal the
differences, to close the gap caused by past actions, to restore friendship, to
be reconciled. In the same way, a terrible gap has come between God and all
humanity caused by the first sin, that of Adam and Eve, and intensified by all
the evil which followed from that Original Sin. Our offences, our disobedience,
the hurt we have caused others – all these have destroyed our relationship with
God, alienating us from Him Who has continued to love us. Sin has always had a
devastating effect on our relationship with God. Sin had separated us from God,
and if we were to have any hope of going to heaven to be with God, then
Someone, both human and Divine, first had to deal with sin in order to restore
our relationship with God. So God sent his Son into the world for this very
purpose. Jesus died on the cross to get rid of the power of sin to condemn us.
"For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself" (2
Corinthians 5:19). His death bridged the deep gulf between God and us.
"Salvation is accomplished, Tetelestai, " Jesus cried. The
restoration of the friendship between God and humanity had been finished. The
task for which God's Son came to earth had been completed. He had won
forgiveness for all people. Nothing else, therefore, needs to be done by us
except to cooperate with God’s grace, in faith and hope, to keep His word, and
so to do acts of charity for our fellow human beings. Salvation is complete.
"It is finished". 3) Tetelestai - The ransom is paid: In his
Gospel, Mark uses this Roman legal terminology for the freeing of slaves when
he quotes Jesus: "the Son of Man came ... to give his life as a ransom for
many." St. Anselm in his book "Cur Deus Homo?" explains this
theory. “No sin can be forgiven without satisfaction. A debt to Divine Justice
has been incurred; and that debt must be paid. But man could not make this
satisfaction for himself because the debt is something far greater than he can
pay. Thus, the only way in which the satisfaction could be made, and men could
be set free from sin, was by the coming of a Redeemer Who was both God and man.
” Hence, only a God-man, Jesus, could pay man's sin-debt, and He had to do it
by giving His own human life in place of ours. He did so by willingly accepting
and dying that death on the cross. Paul reminds us: "For you are
bought with a great price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). So the atonement Jesus
made for sin delivered man from captivity to the devil by the payment of a
ransom to God. That is why St. Peter formulated the Apostolic Faith in the
Divine plan of salvation in this way: "You were ransomed from the futile
ways inherited from your fathers... with the precious blood of Christ, like
that of a lamb without blemish or spot..” (CCC 602). 4) Tetelestai - An exemplary atonement is made
demonstrating the depth of God’s love for man. By giving up his own Son for our
sins, God manifests that His plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to
any merit on our part. It was out of love for His Father and for men whom
the Father wanted to save, that Jesus freely accepted His Passion and death.
St. Paul writes: "God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while
we were still sinners that Christ died for us! … We were God's enemies, but He
made us His friends through the death of His Son." (Romans 5:8, 10). It
was out of love for His Father and for men whom the Father wanted to save that
Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death. Jesus’ death was designed to
impress mankind greatly with a sense of God's love, resulting in softening
their hearts and leading them to repentance. When Jesus died, He was
demonstrating that the God who was His Father had entered our life and loved us
even to the point of death. The cross primarily demonstrates the greatness of
the love of God, a love that should move us to turn away from our sin and to
love God in return. 5) Tetelestai - God’s solidarity with suffering
humanity is demonstrated. The Church teaches us that Jesus saved and reconciled
humanity to God in and through His death and resurrection. Since God could have
saved humanity in any number of ways, one may wonder why He would choose the
cruel death of His Son to be His method. God was willing to allow a cruel
execution for His only Son to show His solidarity with suffering humanity. As
the Mediator of salvation, Jesus endured torment of body and anguish of spirit.
This gift enables us to find meaning for our own sufferings in the sufferings
of Christ. As we lay down our lives in the service of others, we open ourselves
to receiving God’s abundant life. In the same way, as we empty ourselves of all
selfish tendencies, we are filled with the life of the risen Christ. As we
struggle to overcome addictions and sin in our lives, we share in Christ’s
victory over sin and destruction. Why is it GOOD Friday? We call today "GOOD Friday" because the cross is
proof of the powerful love that God has for each of us. No one, not even God,
would do something like that unless He truly loved us. Here we see a love that
was prepared to endure the ultimate suffering in order to rescue us. We have
known love to do some very powerful and strange things. There is the story of a
Polish Catholic priest, St. Maximillian Kolbe, who offered his life in place of
a married man in Nazi Germany. It was February 1941, Auschwitz, Poland.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan priest put in the infamous death camp for
helping Jews escape Nazi terrorism. Months went by and in desperation, one of
his fellow prisoners escaped from the camp. The camp rule was enforced.
Ten people would be rounded up randomly and herded into a cell where they would
die of starvation and a final exposure to lethal gas, as a lesson against
future escape attempts. Names were called. A Polish Jew Frandishek Gasovnachek
was called. He cried, "Please spare me, I have a wife and children!"
Kolbe stepped forward and said, "I will take his place." Kolbe was
marched into the starvation cell with nine others where he managed to live
until August 14. This story was chronicled on NBC news special several years ago.
Gasovnachek, by this time 82, was shown telling this story while tears streamed
down his cheeks. A mobile camera followed him around his little white house to
a marble monument carefully tended with flowers. The inscription read: IN
MEMORY OF MAXIMILIAN KOLBE HE DIED IN MY PLACE. Every day Gasovnachek lived
since 1941, he lived with the knowledge, "I live because someone died for
me." Every year on August 14 he travels to Auschwitz in memory of Kolbe.
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his
friends" (John 15:13). A teenager, Arthur Hinkley lifted a farm tractor with his
bare hands. He wasn’t a weight lifter, but his best friend, eighteen-year-old
Lloyd, was pinned under a tractor. Arthur heard Lloyd screaming for help and
Arthur somehow lifted the tractor enough for Lloyd to wriggle out. His love for
his best friend somehow enabled him to do what would normally be impossible.
And then there is the old story of the young soldier who had been condemned to
death by Oliver Cromwell. He was to be shot at the ringing of the curfew bell.
His fiancée climbed the bell tower and tied herself to the clapper of the giant
bell so that it would not ring. When the bell did not ring, soldiers went to
investigate and found the girl battered and bleeding from being bashed against
the sides of the bell. Cromwell was so impressed by her love for the young man
that he was pardoned. Jesus' announcement, “tetelestai,” "It is finished" is clear and simple. Jesus had completed His task. The purpose for which He had come to earth as a human had been fulfilled. He came so that you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us the victory. He came to ensure that we would enter his kingdom and live forever. Let us pray: Loving God, what You have done for us in Jesus’ death on the cross is far more than we deserve. His death has made us friends with You again. His death has given us forgiveness and the hope of life forever. Everything is complete. Please, Lord, enable us to welcome our crosses, as Jesus did, for the atonement of our sins and those of others, and let us experience that Love and share Him with others. We thank you Jesus from the bottom of our hearts. Amen |
