Good Friday - Sixth Day of Creation
After a good deal of words in the form of clues, parables, stories, and logical arguments, Good Friday is a time when Jesus uses few sentences. They come mainly as forced answers from Pilate and as words of comfort and gratitude while carrying the cross. On the other hand, with Herod, Christ is completely silent. Nailed to the Cross on Golgotha, He utters seven phrases that we traditionally call the Seven Words from the Cross.
Jesus dies in silence but the world of creation screams around him: nature cries and storms, light experiences darkness, the city in terror and the veil in Temple was destroyed.
Only a man stands helpless and watches - he killed God ...
When someone in the family dies, we suddenly feel like one without any prior arrangements. When a loved one dies among cordial friends, our ties become even closer. When we lose someone we love, we all unite in pain. God who became man is dying today. My God, my Lord ... my Creator ... Today, all of us, as humanity, we feel like a FAMILY ...
Today you can view the events of the last hours of Jesus' life, which took place almost two thousand years ago, in different ways. Of course, you can involve the entire emotional sphere in this memory; and thus, even a tear of pain, suffering and compassion will appear on your face. Like a good historian, you can consider the history of God's last hours, analyzing in your mind individual facts and behaviors. Or you may not feel anything and not want to understand, but only cling with will - strong will to Someone who is suffering and just being with him. You can finally look at this one moment through faith which tells you that you were also under this Cross, that this Cross is not a place of defeat, disgrace and humiliation, but a confirmation to what point your Creator can go. Up to what point can Love go?
Today, look at this event with all of you, relive it, let it touch every string of your life. Do not be afraid of your emotions, stick to your mind, be a will, trust in faith. In earthly life, Jesus was all himself for man – He, God, when he saw the death of Lazarus, after all cried, repeatedly tried to stimulate logical thinking in the reasoning of his disciples, by the strength of his will he took attacks on the innocent, and at the same time he was in union with the Father. Sometimes, when you watch a good movie, you get completely involved in a storyline that is painted, which is just a human invention. And here on Golgotha you enter into real life.
It is important that He died for me. Or better, He has shown me how far love can go against even the worst of hate.
What is the cross for me?
You cannot eliminate it, shorten it, cut it to size because it is always just right. You cannot close your eyes and pretend like a child that it is not there. You can curse the Cross, spit on it, rebel at its presence, but this is not the way to the Resurrection. Pope Francis once said in his own style: "Whoever flees from the Cross flees from the Resurrection."
When I think about Good Friday, thousands of crosses that I have seen in my life appear before my eyes. The beautiful wooden ones in huge churches, with realistic images of the Crucified, those roadsides and those hung on the walls, and those completely small, inconspicuous, as if not present, "occasionally " in many places. Old and brand-new crosses. Traditional and a bit original, modern. Heavy and giving the impression of lightness, some sort of fleetingness. In the old oasis song, there are words "every look at the cross, let it come with anxiety ...". And when I look at the cross that we solemnly unveil on Good Friday during the liturgy, I always have peace in my heart. Then I think: "how good it is that there is the Cross of Christ, because in Him everything makes sense." What would be humanly incomprehensible sufferings, misfortunes, everyday struggles, ordinary human difficulties and problems that would not let us sleep, if not for the Cross?
What would it be: human weakness, fall, humiliation and simply sin if it were not for the Cross? Christ became my sin; He took my sin upon Himself. And when He died on the cross, my sin was dying with Him. This results in me with an attitude: I am a forgiven sinner. So, I can smile. Sin is everyone's experience. There is no man who has no problem with his own sin. The question is what this sin then becomes for us: is it a way to God or a reason to hide from God? My sin is my way to God - because Christ took it upon Himself. (...) Christ takes this sin upon Himself and in this sense, He leads me to God. A great paradox. The paradox of the Cross, the paradox of love until the madness of the Cross.
In the Book of Genesis, on the sixth day, God, by creating all living creatures as the final of his work, molds man. He brings man into existence, creating him in His image and likeness. It is worth adding that first he prepared the ground for a beautiful life for him, and now he gave life to man, in the form of a community of men and women. On the one hand, he placed all creation in his management, but on the other hand, he inscribed in human being the desire and duty of community, relationships and bonds.
On Good Friday - the sixth day, God-Man is condemned to death to restore what was in the beginning, to restore man's image and likeness to God. Jesus makes everything anew.
On the sixth day, Jesus summarizes his mission in seven ways. Not on earth anymore, but not yet in heaven. Almost out of time, but not in eternity yet. Instead of thinking about his drama, he still thinks about man, about YOU ... See it yourself:
• Father, Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do
• Today you will be with me in Paradise.
• Woman, Behold Your Son. Behold Your Mother.
• My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
• I Thirst.
• Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit.
• It is Finished
"And so, it was the evening and the morning - the sixth day."
Until Tomorrow
fr. george