Homily for Good Friday

Who is Jesus?  He is the Son of God, the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And in St John’s Gospel, which we heard today, He shows up all inauthenticity around Him.  He is the Light, that causes those who cower in the darkness to flee.  As it says in John 3:19-21:

“And this is the judgement:  the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

At the beginning of the Passion, Christ announces who He is:  He is God.  He says, “I am he”.  Judas, the band of soldiers and the officers fall down because He pronounces the very name of God.  You may remember that when Moses met God in the burning bush and asked God what His name is, God said to him that His name is I AM.  Moses was to tell the people that I AM has sent him.  When they ask Christ if He is Jesus of Nazareth, He says “I am”, not in the ordinary sense as we might say it, as if to say “yes, you’re right”, but He uses the actual name of God, and that is why they fall to the floor, out of great respect for the holy name of God, which the Jews feared to pronounce.

So Christ declares at the beginning of the Passion reading:  I AM.  And like the light, He shows up the darkness in other people’s lives, just like a strong light showing up all the dirt on someone’s clothing.

When He meets Pilate, He tells him that He came “to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice”.  Pilate shows himself up.  As a matter of indifference, he says, “What is truth?”  Christ said, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice”.  It seems that at this point Pilate did not.

The people outside also reject the truth.  There is an irony in their choice of Barabbas.  Christ is the Son of God, Son of the Father.  The name “Barabbas” means “son of the father” (“bar” means “son” and “abba” is an Aramaic word for “father” or “daddy” – hence Barabbas).  The people choose Barabbas, the false son of the father, not the real Son of the Father.  They don’t want the truth either.  “A murderer they save, the prince of life they slay.”

Later, Pilate questions Christ again.  Christ says to him this time, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.  Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater guilt.”  In other words, all authority comes from God and must be used in accord with God’s will.  This means that Pilate has a duty to perform, but he is a pagan and has only a very limited understanding of the true God and what He might be asking of him.  Meanwhile, the chief priest who has handed Christ over to Pilate is the one who should be leading people to Christ, showing how he fulfils all the Old Testament prophecies.  Instead, he has completely misinterpreted who He is, and he is using clever arguing and pressure from the crowd to try to get Pilate to put Jesus to death.  The chief priest is the one who bears the greater guilt.  Christ is shining a light on him now, and it doesn’t look good.  As Christ said in John 5:46-47:  “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

But Christ is not just a just judge, a light showing up the evil in the hearts of those who reject Him; He is also, for those who choose to follow Him, their Saviour.  In the second reading, we see that in Christ, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  He knows the human condition from the inside; for those who choose to follow Him He brings us forgiveness; He pleads for us on our behalf to the Father.  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need.”

So we have a choice.  For those who live in darkness, Christ is like a bright light, hurting their eyes, someone from whom they want to screen their faces, turn away from, to get rid of.  But for those who live in the light, He is our merciful Saviour.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one and nothing else even gets close.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk