Sequel to yesterday’s reflection, Fr. Chidube Ubili, OP reflects today on “the mystery of love, the cross and death” taken from Jn. 18:1 – 19,42.
- Good Friday Celebration is a continuation and conclusion of the events of Holy Thursday. Its climax is the crucifixion and death of Jesus on the Cross.
—On Holy Thursday, we re-enacted the Lord’s Supper in which Jesus using the ordinary bread and wine of the Jewish Passover meal gave us a new meal of His body and blood. This marked the beginning of a new mode of sacrifice (Cf. Matt.26:26-30, 1Cor.11:23-25).
—It was a “bloodless sacrifice” that made a radical distinction between the “Old Passover” and the “New Passover”.
—In the Old Passover, an unblemished lamb was offered and the product was an ordinary meal. In the New Passover, Jesus Himself, is offered with ordinary bread and wine and the products are His Body and Blood.
- According to the account of St. John The Evangelist, after the “”, bloodless sacrifice”” with bread and wine (on Holy Thursday), Jesus moved across the Kedron valley, to a Garden(Gethsemane) to prepare for the consummation of His passion with a ” bloody sacrifice” of His body on the Cross.
—Why would Jesus bring so much excruciating pain, humiliation and shame upon Himself? Why did He go all this far? Shouldn’t the bloodless sacrifice suffice?
—This is an enigma or rather, a mystery that can only be explained by Divine Love; that is Love as expressed and lived by God.
- God, in His nature as Love (Cf. 1Jn.4:8,16) is always giving, giving and giving; until there is nothing more to give.
—For God, love implies giving. So, each time God says, “I Love You”, He gives out His precious possession; something cherished and dear to Him. This is evident in the life of the Blessed Trinity:
—God, The Father said, “I Love You” and gave His one and only son: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life”(Jn.3:16).
—God, The Son said, “I love you” and gave His life: “Greater love than this no one has, that a man lays down his life for his friends”(Jn.15:13).
—God, The Holy Spirit said, “I love you” and descended from heaven: “The Love of God has been poured into our hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit ” (Rom.5:5).
—That it is in the nature of Divine Love to give, not receive; to lose, not gain is the “Mystery of Love”, we humans are not able to imitate from God and live.
—This is why a major tragedy which human life faces today is the ” travesty of love” in which various forms of self-seeking and self-indulgence such as manipulation, exploitation, abuse etc and other forms of behaviour that reduces the humanity of the other person abound.
- Jesus is teaching us today that to say, “I Love You”, is an unconditional pledge or commitment of a lover to pursue the good and wellbeing of the loved, at all times; whether smooth or rough, convenient or inconvenient, pleasurable or painful.
—This is the “love that never gives up; and it’s faith, hope and patience never fails and is eternal”, which the St. Paul speaks about in 1Cor.13:7-8.
—We identify and recognize this Love by the depth of pain it is able to bear and endure.
St. (Mother)Theresa of Calcutta: “Love is not love, until it begins to pain”.
Just imagine what hurt and pain love caused Jesus:
—Love led Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He was deeply troubled in anguish and sweated blood.
—Love submitted the body of Jesus to be scourged at the pillars.
—Loved positioned Jesus’ head to be crowned with long spokes of thorns.
—Love threw the weight of the Cross on Jesus and He fell three times; yet He refused to give up.
—Love crucified Jesus on the Cross.
—And finally, LOVED KILLED JESUS.
St. Thomas Aquinas opines that Jesus was responsible for His death because He could have avoided death, but He didn’t.
—Yes, St. Thomas Aquinas is right. Jesus gave out an “overdose of love” and died. That is why before He died, He said: “It is finished”; by which He meant: “I have exhausted my love; I have nothing more left to give”. Hence, He died.
- Genuine love leads to the Cross for Suffering and from the Cross to Death. For most of us, our love hates the Cross of Suffering. It dares not desire to have even a glimpse of the Cross; talk less of sighting death.
—All that our love craves and clamours for is the “glory of the crown” in terms of pleasure, enjoyment, comfort and goody-goodies.
—That is why human relationships of various kinds: friendship, marriage, family life, business partnership etc, rarely endure over time. Those that seem to endure are so badly fractured that human life has lost its bond of affinity and the society is being torn apart.
—If we are to rediscover both the essence and beauty of love, we should learn from Jesus example of love with two (2)characters:
- Love that is not afraid of the Cross – the lover is ready to suffer for the loved.
- Love that embraces death in due time – the lover is ready to die for the loved, if death will give life to the loved.
- As terrible, painful and stressful as the Lock-Down and Stay-At-Home is, now is the most opportune time to apply the example of Jesus.
—Therefore, let everyone of us forget about personal comfort, pleasure, gains and convenience and make any necessary sacrifice to alleviate the sufferings of others.
—What we need now is more than the conventional (social) philanthropy that seeks notice, commendation, subtle gains and even reward and gratification. The war against COVID-19 requires the generosity of those who are ready and willing to love excessively without measure, as Jesus did…