Goodness of Good Friday

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Francis Gonsalves [1]

We wish you a ‘Happy Good Friday’!” was the greeting of a Doordarshan newsreader on Good Friday some years ago, which drew protests from Indian Christians. Understandably, Christians felt hurt since Good Friday commemorates the death of Jesus.

Doordarshan duly apologised for its faux pas. While it’s odd to wish “happy memories” on a death anniversary, Christians believe that there’s something infinitely “special” about Jesus’ death. Hence, let’s reflect on what’s good about the Good Friday of Jesus’ passion and death.
“Passion” comes from the Latin word patior, meaning, to suffer or to endure. Jesus’ passion is the consequence of his love and compassion. Etymologically, “compassion” means “to suffer with”. Its Greek synonym, splagchitznomai, suggests a deep emotion as if one’s insides are being churned. This was Jesus’ attitude when he responded to those suffering.
Jesus was uncompromising in fighting evil and injustice. He proclaimed the parenthood of God and equality of all human beings. He challenged all man-made divisions of high-low, saint-sinner, pure-impure and especially cared for the poor, sick and suffering. He criticised legalistic and ritualistic religion, always stressing love as the root and rationale of religion.
For Jesus, love was not some romantic sentiment, but a commitment to serve and sacrifice. The day before he died — called “Maundy Thursday” from the Latin verb mandare, to command — Jesus performed an astounding symbolic action. He washed his disciples’ feet and gave them a love-commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you”.
In Jesus’ time, washing of a guest’s feet was done by servants, never by sahibs. But Jesus said: “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet; for, I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you”. How difficult it is for us to “bend down” to serve others.
Jesus’ unconditional love for others was boundless. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”, he said, knowing that his actions and options were creating waves of opposition from the religious and political authorities who sought to silence him. Despite their threats, Jesus didn’t retrace his steps but suffered the ignominious death on the Cross, thereby showing solidarity with those who suffer.
Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ poignantly portrays the gruesome sufferings that Jesus underwent: mental agony, abandonment, betrayal, treachery, torture, false accusations, scourging, manipulation, mockery, stripping, crowning with thorns and crucifixion. So painful and shameful was death by crucifixion that the Romans passed a law that no Roman citizen could be crucified, regardless of the crime.
“The world is imprinted with the sign of the cross”, wrote Ireneus in the second century, meaning, one cannot ignore the ubiquitous presence of pain: illnesses, failures, addictions, desertions, betrayal, corruption, evil, poverty, rape, exploitation, untruth and so on. The list is endless. Jesus’ life inspires us to take a stand against all these. However, like Jesus, one who combats such cancers is likely to suffer victimisation and death.
Jesus’ Cross is not a symbol of death, but of life. Its embrace transforms evil into good by the alchemy of love; for, Jesus rose from the dead. He promised, “When I’m lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself”. This sublime pledge gives hope to people who are suffering in the world. That’s why Gladys Staines and her daughter, Esther, could sing, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!” even as they were burying the charred bodies of their dear family members: Graham Staines, Philip and Timothy.
In Christ’s Cross, two loves wed: divine and human. In the vertical thrust of the Cross, we sense that God is close to us and suffers with us: “God so loved the world that He gave us his Son, Jesus” to teach us pathways of love. And in the horizontal thrust, we have Jesus forgiving his killers and promising paradise to a repentant thief who was crucified with him. Thus, we’re all invited to “carry the Cross” with Jesus in our little efforts to alleviate suffering; yet, accepting it when it’s the inevitable outcome of our options and actions.
We experience the “goodness” of Good Friday when we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, boldly following the dynamics of his life-death-and-resurrection. Hence, a “prayer of faith” we could make is: “Dying, you destroyed our death; rising, you restored our life; Lord Jesus, come in glory!” This glory of Jesus’ resurrection is celebrated this weekend on Easter Sunday.

— Francis Gonsalves is the principal of the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. He is involved in interfaith dialogue and peoples’ initiatives for fostering justice, harmony and peace. He can be
contacted at fragons@gmail.com