19 April 2019 12:08 am Views - 392
Good Friday is a special day for the Christians since it is on this day that they commemorate with much piety and devotion the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of human beings. During special prayerful ceremonies in the churches on this day, the Christians will venerate the Crucifix (the figure of Jesus, attached to the Cross) and they will also read the Sacred Scriptures (the Holy Bible) prayerfully and reflect on the passages that reveal the cause for the agony, the sufferings and death of Jesus. They will also fast, abstain from eating meat and share with the poor.
While Jesus of Nazareth was at prayer soon after his baptism by John the Baptist at the Jordan River, he had an unforgettable historic consciousness about the mission-vision entrusted to him by God, Jesus’ beloved Parent. It was a mission-vision of unconditional love and forgiveness.
In the light of that vision of love, Jesus observed that the Jewish society, in which he was born, was not functioning according to the will of God. For example, the High Priest, the Pharisees, and the Elders had misinterpreted the sacred text of Leviticus 19:20: “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy”, as “Be clean, for I, Yahweh your God, am clean”, and were excluding the sinners, the sick, the tax collectors and the poor who were considered unclean, from participating in sacred worship and also from social contacts and associations. So religion had created division and disunity and such a situation was not according to the will of God.
By His preaching and teaching, Jesus began pointing out to the Jewish High Priest, the Pharisees and the Elders that their understanding of the sacred worship had got vitiated and institutionalized, bereft of justice and love. Secondly, by his provocative associations with people who were considered unclean and by His compassionate and merciful actions like eating with the sinners and the tax collectors, curing the sick, feeding the hungry with good things, forgiving the sinners, permitting the women to manifest their love to him publicly, Jesus had also relativised the concept of the scared Sabbath when genuine human needs demanded. Legalism, devoid of love, is bad.
Jesus rejected legalism, not the law. In the mind of Jesus, religion had created division and disunity among the people of God. It had excluded and marginalized some groups. Jesus would not legitimize such a religious and social ethos according to his new historic consciousness of the mission-vision of love and forgiveness.
Jesus’ vision and mission of love and forgiveness manifested by his concrete actions of service and his invitation to love one another as he himself loved them, soon began to invite resistance and condemnation by the High Priest, the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Elders. They pointed out to Pilate, the Roman Governor that Jesus was making himself the King of the Jews and that he was trying to establish a Kingdom and hence his kingship would be a challenge to the Roman rule. They also incited the people to condemn Jesus as a criminal, saying Jesus was breaking the sacred Sabbath and was making himself the Messiah. But the excluded and the marginalized persons had become the great beneficiaries of the unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness of Jesus. They soon began to feel appreciated and affirmed by Jesus, as persons with dignity. So they began to esteem themselves and experience also social prestige. Self-esteem is the feeling one has about oneself that one is good and lovable. Jesus in fact showed his love for everyone; no one was excluded. But he showed his preferential love for those who were excluded, despised and rejected in the society. “Jesus was executed, evidently because he had spoken of a God who was concerned for humanity and who therefore required people to be concerned for their fellow human beings” (Edwards Schillebeeckx). Jesus was tried, sentenced and executed by the Roman Court presided over by Pilate, with the consent of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Court, composed of the High priest, the chief priests, the elders and the Scribes. They crucified him like a criminal on a cross between two thieves. But, Jesus, hanging from the Cross, cried out to God, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” The executioners did not know Jesus was the Messiah. They were under the influence of the Sanhedrin and the Roman Court.
Jesus’ mission-vision of love and forgiveness is universal and it will last forever because he was a person of integrity and honesty. He died because he had loved people especially the ones who were despised, excluded and marginalized. He invited his followers to love one another as he had loved since love binds relationships, creates inter-connectedness and equality. As compassion, love makes one to go out to help others, and as mercy, love removes the guilt in other persons and promotes reconciliation. Such is the nature of God’s love as manifested in and through Jesus of Nazareth for every human being on earth.
In his human nature, Jesus died but his spirit of love, compassion and mercy is not dead but alive. May the death of Jesus inspire us to resist the evil of pride, hatred and violence and commit ourselves in a spirit of humility to care for each other and create an environment where everyone can experience dignity, esteem, concern, care, unity and reconciliation!
Today there are many individuals and families who have become witnesses to the love, compassion and mercy of God manifested in and through Jesus.