Seven Priceless Lessons from Good Friday

Dearest beloved, on every Good Friday, we commemorate the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s Gospel is taken from St. John’s account of the Passion of Jesus. The Ultimate Good, the one who went about doing good, healing and delivering all those who where under the power of the evil one was paid back, not with honest gratitude, or affirmation of his good deeds, or with loyal followership, but with scorn, humiliation, injustice, and death. On Calvary, the greatest lover was offered the greatest hatred. On Calvary, the Author of life had his own life taken away. He was crucified and killed. 

The Lord’s crucifixion is both the fullest expression of divine anger over sin, and the fullest and greatest expression of love for the other. We were supposed to be the ones on the cross, but even our own crucifixion and death wouldn’t have been enough to atone for our sins. Only Jesus could and he did. He died on our behalf and atoned everlastingly our sins and that of the generations to come. So, when we look at the cross, we should see, not just a violent display of brutality rather our own ugliness. What even took Jesus to the cross? Wickedness. Evil. Anger. Institutional injustice. Betrayal of friendship. Denial. Unspeakable cruelty. Lies. Anger. Gossip. Oppression. Scapegoating. Hatred. Fear. ETC.  But here is the good news! Despite the ugliness, brutality and aggression of the cross, it is still the most profound expression of love and divine solidarity with sinners— you and me. God has come to stand with us in our insane arrogance and he is offering us boundless and limitless mercy. With all certitude, we are sinners. I am a sinner. You are a sinner. No one is spotless. None is without blemish. No matter how religious, pious or holy we appear, none of us is innocent before God. But because of Good Friday we are no more condemned sinners but redeemed sinners. 

As we commemorate Good Friday, there are seven priceless lessons that the story of the Lord’s crucifixion can teach us. 

Physical Suffering is Part of Life: My study and work in clinical settings have exposed me to the level of suffering that many sick people go through. The pain and anguish of sickness do drive many to ask if they are being punished by God and if God has abandoned them. So, the first priceless lesson to learn from Jesus’ own experience is that physical suffering is part of life. For Jesus, suffering is real, not an illusion as some philosophers claim. On Good Friday, Jesus was beaten, tortured and nailed to the cross. The capital punishment he faced was the most agonizing way to kill a person. “Victims of crucifixion died either from loss of blood, or more commonly asphyxiation (suffocation), as the weight of their bodies pulled on their wrists, compressed their lungs and made breathing impossible.” Jesus’s life, like any human life, included physical suffering. He suffered throughout his lifetime. His parents were not folks of means. He grew up in the small town of Nazareth, from where he later traveled throughout Galilee and Judea. He lived at a time of primitivity when life was so hard. No good roads. No good transportation system. He mostly walked about. No good hospital. And he definitely had headaches, sprained ankle, malaria, cold, flu etc. Jesus expressed a great deal of suffering from infancy till death, although the zenith of his physical suffering occurred on Good Friday. 

Emotional Suffering is Real: Part of the reasons why many hospitals in the United States and other developed countries have professionally trained chaplains is because studies have shown that physical suffering oftentimes leads to emotional and spiritual distress. In Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), it is called spiritual pain. Studies have also shown that patients in healthcare settings who experience emotional or spiritual pain may continue to feel unwell until their emotional and spiritual distress are addressed even after the best medical care has been provided. When we speak about Jesus’ suffering on Good Friday, we always tend to pay attention only on his physical trials. But just like many of patients in hospitals, Jesus’ agony on the cross included emotional and spiritual distress and suffering as well. The cry of “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” is a lamentation of someone who was experiencing and expressing not only deep physical pain, but spiritual and emotional suffering as well. Jesus felt a deep sense of abandonment. His Apostles had fled in fear and abandoned him. The few women of Jerusalem who were around couldn’t save him. The betrayal of Judas, a close ally must have hit hard. Peter’s denial of him must have felt like Mike Tyson’s uppercut punch. What about the crowd, many of whom benefited from his ministry? None spoke up in his defense. No one said, “This man is innocent.” By the time a centurion acknowledge, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54), it was too late. Jesus had been killed. The betrayal, denials, rejection etc must have weighed heavily on his heart and caused him deep emotional and spiritual pain and distress. 

Suffering is not Always the Result of Sin: “Father, am I being punished for my sins?” “Father, if God gives me another chance, I will change my life.” Those are some of the words my terminally ill patients ask me when I come to visit them. The persistence of their illness, the refusal of their bodies to respond well to medical treatment, the lengthy hospitalization, myriads of medical tests and examination, the poking of their skins to draw blood by nurses, the intrusions, the lack of privacy, doctors not knowing what else to do, the toll their illness is taking on the members of their families, health insurance related matters, their new normal, isolation from loved ones, the sudden end of the life they had before, the thought of death, the fear of it etc. oftentimes corner patients to think that their suffering is definitely due to sin. Now, there are times suffering comes as a result of sin. If we make immoral decisions, it could lead to suffering. But most of the time, particularly illness and other misfortunes, it may not be. Jesus suffered tremendously not due to sin. He was sinless, yet, he suffered immensely. He was not being punished for his sins. During the time of Jesus, terminal illness, extreme poverty, deformity etc were attributed to sin and divine retribution. In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ own disciples asked him about a man who was born blind, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born born?” Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” Praise God! Unfortunately this thought pattern is still prevalent today. In the land of my birth, Nigeria, and even here in America, people still attribute suffering to sin. If every suffering is due to sin, what sin did Jesus commit?

Jesus is Truly Human: Most Christians believe that Jesus has two natures— human and divine. Although it is not easy to comprehend fully this mystery, the Gospels are littered with stories of Jesus exhibiting both human and divine attributes. When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Jesus was also hungry and tired. Like every human being, he grieved and groaned. At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed like me and you when he asked the Father to remove and prevent his suffering: “Remove the chalice from me.” That means he did not want to die. He only surrendered when he immediately realized it was the Father’s will for him. We also see Jesus raise Lazarus and other people from death, heal the sick, calmed storms, walked on water, knew the thoughts of people, changed water into win and also made the declaration, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The I AM is God’s name revealed to Moses. But the fourth priceless lesson of Good Friday is that Jesus is truly human. At the cross, his humanity was on full display for all to see. 

Suffering is not the Final Word: When the Son of God and Redeemer of humanity died, foolish people foolishly thought that God was dead. The death of God would have been the death of humanity and the extinction of everything. After his death on the cross, there was Easter. There is Easter. And there will always be Easter. Good Friday is incomplete without Easter. Easter tells us that there is an end to pain and suffering. If you are walking under the shadow of death, remember the message of Easter. Your struggles today shall pass. The Egyptians you see today, you shall see no more. Your struggles shall pass you by. Be hopeful! Victory is just round the corner. Remember that nothing is too difficult for God. 

Injustice and Wickedness will never Win: When Jesus was dragging his wounded body to Golgotha, it seemed he was finished. Don’t forget he fell thrice under the heavy weight of the cross. He was scourged at the pillar. He was slapped by a soldier. They made caricature of him.  They spat in his face. And fed him with an expired win. All manners of wickedness and injustice were unleashed on him. When he cried, “It is finished!” his executioners rejoiced and thought they had finished him off. When he bowed his head and died, they misunderstood expiration for extinction. They thought they have won. They thought their injustice and wickedness  have triumphed. But Easter tells us a different lesson. It tells us that evil did not win and will not win. Injustice and wickedness did not win and will not win.

Capital Punishment is always inadmissible because it attacks the inherent dignity of all humans. 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Good Friday

April 19, 2019