Friday of the Passion of the Lord

Good Friday

April 19, 2019

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12

Psalm: 31

Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9

Gospel reading according to John 18: 1 – 19: 42

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Homily

None among Jesus’ disciples were standing at the foot of the cross in Golgotha to show their love, support and concern of them to him, to be identified as his disciples, except John whom he loved.  Present there also were his mother Mary, Mary wife of Cleopas and Mary of Magdala.  Only the mother has the courage to be with her son in a horrendous (nakakakilabot) scene and some women who loved him.   “. . . Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary wife of Cleopas, and Mary of Magdala” (Jn. 18: 25).  Only Mary, his mother, and Mary wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene were there standing courageously at the foot of the cross where Jesus was crucified (nakabayubay sa krus) to show their love and sympathy.   They cannot abandon him in his dreadful and unbearable condition of dying.  As a mother, it is too hard for her to see her son tortured, underwent horrible punishments, put to death by crucifixion.  We can feel also in our present time the pain of a mother who lost her son by extra-judicial killing, as what the law enforcers said, he fought back, “nanlaban,” but the Supreme Court also defined extra-judicial killing, in 2008 ruling, as: “a killing committed without due process of law, that is, without legal safeguards or proceeding” (cf. Third Sunday of Lent (C), Homily, March 24, 2019).  Jesus never fought back, he only showed the truth and what is just, but he was put to death.

Jesus cannot leave his mother alone; she needs companion(s) who would take care of her in her old age. Mary was a widow and now she is losing a son, she is the poorest of all the poor, so Jesus entrusted his mother to the one he knows can love her and protect her and support her. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’  Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’  And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (Jn. 18: 26-27).  When Jesus saw his mother he consoled her and he saw also his beloved disciple, John, whom he can trusted his mother.  So he said to his mother with highest respect by calling her “woman.”  We can recall in the Book of Genesis when God said to the serpent (Satan), “I will put enmity between you and the woman . . .” (Gen. 3: 15). “Woman, behold your son.”  John who represents us all is entrusted to his mother, Mary.  “Behold your mother.” And Mary is entrusted to us through John to become our mother as well.  As true and beloved disciples of Jesus, from now on, Mary dwells in us and we live with her.  

He knows his last breath is running out, his death is at the threshold though he is now sure when he left everything was fulfilled according to the plan of God, he finished every detail of the things entrusted to him by his Father. “After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’  There was a vessel filled with common wine.  So they put a sponge soaked in wine sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth” (Jn. 18: 28-29).  He fulfilled what the scripture promised and the last word before he died was: “I thirst,” not of physical or bodily thirst but spiritual thirst for he will miss what he loved.  “When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit” (Jn. 18: 30).  After sipping the common wine he breathes his last and he died, he handed over his spirit to God his Father. (We kneel and bow at this moment for a few minutes.)

It so happened that they have to prepare for tomorrow’s solemn Feast of Sabbath and this was very special Sabbath Day of the Lord.  Yet still Jesus and those crucified with him were still on the cross hanging.  They should be taken down dead if not their legs should be broken for easy death yet very agonizing death, and the Jews did not want them to remain there watching the death of the three “criminals.”  “Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down” (Jn. 18: 31).  The Jews went to Pontius Pilate to give them permission to break the legs of those crucified men at Golgotha, which Pilate allowed.

He sent soldiers in the Mountain of Skull to break the legs of Jesus, Gestas and Dismas.  “So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus” (Jn. 18: 32).  They came first to the two thieves and broke their legs for they were still alive.  Only those who are still alive will be hitting and breaking the legs for them to die.

They have to break also the legs of Jesus, the King of the Jews (as it was written in the board on the top of the cross), the Messiah or Christ (the Anointed One), the Son of God.  “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (Jn. 18: 33-34).  But when they came nearer to Jesus they realized that he was already dead, so there is no need to break his legs to hasten his death for he was already dead.  But to be sure, one of the soldiers named Longinus used his lance and pierced the heart of Jesus were blood and water flowed out freely.  What is the significance of not breaking any bone of Jesus? The prophecy of the Old Testament is still happening to Jesus.  “No bones to be broken,” like the Paschal Lamb (see Exodus 12: 46) "It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it;” and (Psalm 34: 20) “He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.”  And this happened to Jesus, no single bone was broken, like a paschal lamb.  Nevertheless, Longinus, the Roman soldier, thrust a lance a spire on the chest of Jesus, near his heart and suddenly blood and water were abundantly and freely flowed out in his body.  This signifies the Eucharist – the body and blood mingled with water to commemorate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ when he offered himself as a Sacrificial Lamb of the Lord God for our salvation and the love of us of God our loving and merciful Father.