Good Friday 18 April 2025 – The Passion of the Lord
Service Readings: Is 52:13- 53:12
Ps 31 Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9 Jn 18:1-19:42
Key Verse to
Meditate: When Jesus had
received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit. (Jn 19:30)
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
This is our faith and our proclamation. The liturgy on this day centers on Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the Lord, as described in the first reading. It is divided into three parts:
The Nature of Today’s Liturgy
Today, the Church sets aside solemn liturgical vestments and enters into silence and penance, participating in the spectacle of a God who dies out of love. We are invited to adore the Cross, to express our gratitude with a kiss for what we have received from it, and to be in solidarity with all who still suffer and love today.
The Death of Jesus on the Cross
Looking at the way Jesus died on Mount Calvary, the Cross becomes, for us disciples, a luminous sign of salvation—an explicit and definitive testimony of divine love. This same Cross should not only hang around our necks but guide every decision we make. The Cross has become the measure of God’s love for us. Let us pause at the foot of the Cross, in the silence of our souls, and realize: this is how much we are loved.
On this holy day, the whole Church calls all the faithful to observe fasting and prayer in silence, contemplating the mystery of Christ's death. The sense of emptiness that marks Jesus’ death is also reflected in the Church’s liturgy: the altar is left bare, and the crosses and statues are veiled.
The First Reading: The Suffering Servant
The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is the fourth song of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. It so beautifully foreshadows Jesus' suffering: "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity… Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases… But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed" (Isa 53:2b-5).
Jesus was rejected by the religious authorities—by the high priests, scribes, and Pharisees. He was abandoned by Pilate, Herod, the disciples, and the crowd who chose Barabbas over Him. His face, distorted by beatings and torture, fulfilled the prophecy: “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man” (Isa 52:14).
The purpose of Christ’s sufferings lies in the truth that He was wounded, bruised, and crucified to bear the iniquities of all and to be made a sin offering on our behalf—bringing us pardon, forgiveness, and new hope. By Jesus’ wounds, we are healed. Let us thank God for the gift of His precious Son.
The Second Reading: Being in Human Form
In the letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul shows us that Jesus helps us in our weakness. He humbled Himself to take on our humanity. He understands our frailty: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:14–16).
The Passion Reading: To Look Upon the One Pierced
In the Passion narrative from the Gospel of John, we encounter a distinct portrayal of Christ's final moments. The Johannine account presents a range of people—the disciples, women, priests, governor, and soldiers—each approaching the dying Christ. As the Passion concludes, we are invited to contemplate deeply: “They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (Jn 19:37).
This is a direct reference to Zechariah’s prophecy: “They shall mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son” (Zech 12:10).
Today, we must fix our gaze on Jesus crucified. Let us be moved to repentance and gratitude. May His Passion be our healing and our hope.
Blood and Water from the Side of Christ
After Jesus’ death, the soldier pierced His side: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out” (Jn 19:34).
This profound sign reveals the birth of the Church. The water symbolizes Baptism, the blood symbolizes the Eucharist—together, they signify the sacraments through which the Church is nourished. As Eve came from the side of Adam, so the Church came forth from the side of Christ.
As St. John Chrysostom says, from His precious blood we are born and nourished. Just as a mother feeds her child with her own body, so too Christ nourishes us through the sacraments.
Jesus Died on Good Friday
Yes, Jesus died. He died on Good Friday—for you, for me, for the world. In His death, we see that love is stronger than death: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (Jn 3:16-17).
Jesus, our Savior, sacrificed His life to overcome death and win for us eternal life. He bore our sins like a sacrificial lamb, promising us eternal life through faith: “Surely, He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases… But He was wounded for our transgressions… and by His bruises we are healed” (Isa 53:3–6).
As St. Paul writes in Romans: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by His blood” (Rom 3:23–25).
It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin and makes us worthy of the life of God. What John the Baptist declared at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry is fulfilled at the Cross: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).
Jesus Shed His Precious Blood on the Cross – A New Covenant
Jesus’
shedding of his precious blood on the cross for the redemption of the world
becomes a new covenant of God. The death that resulted due to sin and
disobedience was cancelled and restored by the obedient death of Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God on the Cross. Moses in the desert, after proclaiming all the
commandments of God, inaugurated the old covenant of God with his people by
sprinkling of the blood of the lamb in the desert: Moses then took the blood
and sprinkled it over the people, saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant
which Yahweh has made with you, entailing all these stipulations' (Ex 24:8). In
the NT, this is the image of the precious blood of the lamb shed on the cross
for the redemption of the world. The world is saved by the blood of Jesus. The
evil one shall pass by in this present world when it sees the faithful being
sprinkled with the blood of Christ, in their hearts and in the temple of the
Lord.
Love of Christ
The love of Christ is hard to explain. It is
what led Him to the Cross. St. Paul captures it well: “That you may comprehend
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of
Christ that surpasses all knowledge” (Eph 3:18–19). This love became the
driving force of Paul’s life: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14). He
trusted in that love, knowing nothing could separate him from it—even in sin,
God loved us first (Rom 5:8). The self-sacrifice of Christ gave Paul confidence
in divine love.
If you want to understand what it means to love and be loved, look to the Cross. The Holy Cross is the ultimate expression of God’s unfathomable love. As St. John writes, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16).
The famous German theologian Karl Barth was once asked by students in the U.S.: “Dr. Barth, what is the greatest truth you have learned as a theologian?” His answer was simple and profound: “Jesus loves me.”
Jesus Did It
A simple yet profound question remains: Why did Jesus die the way He did? The answer is clear—Jesus did it. He died for me. He took your place and mine on the Cross. It was sin—the darkness in every human heart—that nailed Him there. But Jesus believed that through love, the Cross could become not just a symbol of sin and death, but of redeeming, redemptive love. His true messianic mission was not to conquer by force but to die in love—and that is exactly what He did.
He embraced suffering willingly. The story of the human race began in a garden with Adam. The story of the second Adam ends in a garden—Gethsemane. After His arrest, Jesus had many choices: He could have resisted the soldiers, justified His actions, escaped into the wilderness, struck a deal with the chief priests, bargained with Pilate, or even called on divine power to save Himself. He could have come down from the Cross or incited the crowds. But He did none of these. In choosing to do the Father’s will, He saved the Roman soldiers, His disciples, Jerusalem—and indeed, all humanity.
The Cross of Christ
Jesus’ death on the Cross is central to human history. Two thousand years have passed, and yet Jesus’ death on the Cross remains the most remembered death in history. The open tomb of Jesus and Mount Calvary in Jerusalem are among the most visited places in the world. It was on that unforgettable Good Friday that Jesus died on the Cross—for love. Since that Friday, neither the world nor humanity has ever remained the same. His death turned everything upside down.
Today, the Cross has become the most widely recognized symbol in the world. It adorns the necks of countless people. Many graves are marked with the Cross, and most churches have the Cross built on top. Art and jewelry are filled with representations of the Cross. Once the most humiliating means of execution under the Roman Empire, the Cross has, after Jesus’ death, gained profound theological significance. Once a symbol of imperial power and cruelty, it has become a symbol of the suffering love of God—a transformation from ultimate threat to ultimate hope.
Points for Personal Reflections
The
Liturgy of the Holy Friday, says, Pope Francis, invites us to embrace his cross
as ours and thus share in his sufferings. Jesus accepted the sufferings on the
cross, for the love of the Father. Jesus did not avoid the death on the cross,
because it was the most painful thing, but accepted it willingly, because it
was the only thing that he could do to God the heavenly Father. His death has
sanctified death itself for eternity.
Very
interesting to meditate on the human reality that Jesus lived. He was born as a
child, he lived like a man, preached like a prophet and did miracles and
healings as the Messiah and yet finally Jesus too died a human death. Can we
fix our gaze upon the holy cross of Christ on which he died on this special
Friday amidst the Corona virus pandemic? Can we look at it for a minute with a
deep sense of gratitude for what he has done for you and me and for the world?
What is the meaning of Good Friday for me? How does the death of Christ on the
cross affect my life? How do I look at the sufferings in my life in the light
of Christ’s sufferings?
The
passion of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history. Jesus Christ
suffered unspeakably and died. The way of the cross is the way of suffering. We
profess that I believe in Jesus Christ, who was crucified died and was
buried!!!! We will not be able to grasp what happened to the Son of God at
Mount Calvary. But remember that our Lord and Master Jesus is the one who
prayed from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”
(Lk 23:34).
The Cross is the greatest gift of love. Love
and death are so united in the Passion of the Saviour that you cannot have one
without the other. On Calvary, there is no life without love, nor love without
the death of the Redeemer. Any love that does not derive from the Passion of
the Saviour is shallow and even dangerous. It is not the magnitude of our
actions that pleases God, but the love with which we perform them. The mystery
of Christ’s love must overwhelm our lives. We are called to give our lives in love.
As Charles Taylor writes in Sources of the Self, “Only in losing, we attain
fulfillment and self-satisfaction.”
Without the
Cross, we are no longer disciples of the Lord - Pope Francis.
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Nice msg fr... keep praying for us
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