Homily for 19 Apr 2019 Good Friday

19 Apr 2019

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

You can point to a lot of reasons why Jesus was crucified.  He referred to God as his “Father,” which put him on the same level as God.  So he was crucified for blasphemy.  He broke several of the Jewish laws: the ritual purifications, the law against doing work on the Sabbath, speaking in a challenging tone to the high priest, and so on.  He went against some of the Roman laws; in particular, the law about recognizing Caesar as king. 

There were a lot of reasons why they had to get rid of Jesus.  He touched corpses and lepers, which was a big no-no.  He ate with sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, and the like—he didn’t keep very good company.  He was even friendly with people on the outside, like the Samaritan woman.  So, there were many reasons—big and small—why Jesus was crucified.

But within all those reasons, there one especially important reason.  And that is: Jesus spoke and lived the truth.  We know Jesus died out of love.  But he also let himself be killed for the cause of truth.

Everything Jesus did, everything he said was true.  Love of God and love of neighbor is basic to God’s law.  And he was simply being true to that law.  When he referred to God as his “Father,” he was simply speaking the truth.  When he opposed Caesar as king, he was simply expressing the truth of matter: God is king, not Caesar.  Jesus was crucified for speaking and living the truth. 

Now, as we know, it can be hard to relate to the Cross.  And it can be hard to live out concretely what Jesus says: If anyone would be my disciple, they must pick up their cross and follow me.  What does that mean?  After all, the Cross is this big wooden thing in front of us.  Am I supposed to carry that?  What does Jesus mean by: “pick up the cross and follow me”? 

Well, the Passion and crucifixion of Jesus gives us a great example of how—concretely—we can do exactly that.  All we need to do is to follow his cue, and to speak and to live the truth.  If we do that—if we speak and live the truth—the cross will come to us.  It’ll come knocking on our door.

For example: You’re with a group of friends, and some of them start gossiping.  Well, you can simply say, “You know, I don’t wanna gossip about so-and-so.  Let’s talk about something else.”  Well, that’s living the truth of who you are as a Christian.  Of course, some of those friends might look at you and say, “What are you?  A Christian?”  There’s the cross knocking on your door.  And all you had to do was live the truth of who you are.

As a priest, I have several occasions to speak the truth of things (and, really, this is something every baptized person has occasion to do).  When someone in the community is running especially contrary to our values, I have to speak the truth there.  Of course, it causes some discontent.  And I can feel the weight of the cross; it’s definitely there.  And all I have to do is point out to someone: “You know, we don’t treat other people like this in the Church.  You need to stop.”  Speak the truth and the cross will come visit you; you won’t have to go looking for it.

But there’s a big difference between Jesus speaking and living the truth, and us speaking and living the truth.  And the difference is that Jesus himself is the truth; whereas we are not.  We can be faulty.  And so, for us, the cross doesn’t come only when we speak and live the truth.  It also comes when we’re on the receiving end of the truth.  And that’s a hard pill to swallow.  The truth makes us humble—whether or not we like it.

An example for us in the Church would be accepting the nature of the Church itself: it’s “Catholic,” it’s “universal,” it’s spread and shared in all parts of the world, open to every person from every culture and language, open to all people from every sort of background.  Its doors are wide open to anybody who desires to be and to live as a disciple of the Lord.  And that includes everybody and anybody.

It’s the “Catholic” Church, whether or not we like it.  And every leper and prostitute, every sinner and tax collector, every person whoever and whatever he or she is, is invited to be a disciple of the Lord, and to be a brother or sister in Christ.  And the truth of that can certainly be a cross for some people to wrestle with and accept.

One other example comes to us from the season of Lent.  As we know, Lent is a time of more intense self-reflection.  And, in that reflection, we might discover faults, mistakes, sins that we’re not proud of.  And coming face-to-face with that truth of our own “ugliness of soul,” can be a cross to bear.  But the cross can also be our attempts to correct those wrongs that we’ve done, and those failings that we’ve let slide through the years. 

Those words, “I’m sorry,” can be incredibly heavy to speak.  But, as Jesus teaches us, “the truth will [also] set you free.”  And with that, we see that not only the truth, but also the Cross will set us free.  The Resurrection of Jesus on Easter points back to the Cross; it affirms and validates the Cross as that which sets us free.  And so, like Jesus, we embrace the Cross—not for the sake of suffering, but for the sake of the truth.   

Jesus was crucified for speaking and living the truth.  If we want to follow him, if we want to “pick up our own cross,” then all we need to do is speak, live, and receive the truth: the truth of who we are, the truth about our faith, the truth about God, the truth about what’s right and important in the world....  You know...the truth.  We’ll be crucified for it, but that’s not bad: to carry the Cross, to die and rise with Jesus, all for the sake of what’s good and beautiful...and true.  No wonder we talk about the “glory of the Cross.”