Good
Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Dear brothers and sisters,
“Who would believe what we have heard”
(Isaiah 53:1)? We might say that in some way this Friday which we call Good is
about the voice of Jesus the Christ. Indeed, when the Lord Jesus identified
himself to those who confronted him weapons and torches, “they turned away and
fell to the ground” (John 18:6).
Reflecting on this powerful aspect
of the Lord’s sorrowful Passion, Saint Augustine reminds us that
With
no other weapon than his own solitary voice uttering the words ‘I am,’ he
knocked down, repelled and rendered helpless that great crowd, even with all
the ferocious hatred and terror of arms… And now even at the present time
Christ is still saying through the Gospel, ‘I am.’ And … the result is the
same, as people go backward and fall to the ground because they have abandoned
what is heavenly in favor of what is earthly.[1]
Those
soldiers and officers fell back because “God lay hid in that human flesh…”[2] They heard the voice of
God and learned that “the voice of the Lord
is powerful,” that “the voice of the Lord
is full of majesty” (Psalm 29:4). So it was that they fell back in fear before
him in fear.
We
might also say that they fell back, they drew back, they retreated, because
they did not want to conform themselves to “the Word made flesh,” to the one
who is himself the truth (cf. John 1:14; cf. John 14:6). The Lord Jesus repeatedly
spoke the truth to them and invited them to enter into the embrace of his love
time and again, but they would not allow their hearts to be changed; they refused
to repent and believe in the Gospel and so backed away from them (cf. Mark 1:15).
Because
he desired them to open their ears to his words, he spoke “openly to the world”
and often said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (John 18:20; Matthew 11:15). They would not hear, but he did not stop speaking to them; rather, he
continually offered the gift of his merciful love to them in order that they might
allow his words to take root in their hearts. This is why the Lord Jesus commanded
Peter to “put your sword back into its scabbard” (John 18:11). Not only was
Peter’s act of defense contrary to the will of the Father, it also removed an
opportunity for the slave of the high priest to hear anew the Word made flesh.
When
the Lord restored Malchus to health by giving him back his ear, he signified “the
renewed hearing that has been pruned of its oldness, that it may henceforth be
in the newness of the spirit…”[3] What oldness needs to be
pruned from us that our hearing might be renewed? Will we allow the strength of
the Lord’s words to prune us, or will we, with the soldiers and the officers,
draw back from him and refuse to hear the truth? Will we allow the solitary weapon
of his voice to pierce our hearts? Let us this day not fall back from the voice
of Christ Jesus to return to what is earthly, but let us instead fall down
before the Cross of our Lord in humble love and ask him to strengthen our
desire for the things of heaven. Let us, hearing his voice of power, of truth,
and of love, believe. Amen.
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