Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar
Good Friday is the day of the Passion and Death of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.The death of the Lord on the Cross was so entirely against human calculations to establish a kingdom, or to initiate a world movement of liberation, that this event alone can be said to be an argument to prove the divinity of Christ Jesus. Man-made gods were always victorious kings or warriors who carried out their mission by destroying their enemies through the use of force and weapons. Jesus Christ stands unique as the only Son of God who saved the human race by accepting death at the hands of his enemies. Lord Jesus Christ came not to kill, but to be killed. Through His death on the Cross-, He destroyed the power of the devil, the real enemy of humanity.
Good Friday is the feast of the Cross-, the central symbol of Christianity. Christians all over the world venerate the Cross in a solemn way on Good Friday.This is because the Cross has become the supreme expression of compassion, sacrifice and redemption. It reminds us that humble life is a struggle. It tells us that to be human is to respond to human suffering with compassion. Ultimately it is not power, but love ad compassion that redeem.
Compassion (cum+ passio) means “suffering with”. It means suffering in solidarity with the needy and distressed. It is that power in one’s heart to love others and suffer with the miseries and pain of others. It means sensitivity, vulnerability to be affected by the sorrows and struggles of others. It is not passive suffering, but active involvement in the life of others and action to alleviate suffering.
Compassion is the basis and bond of solidarity. Allowing oneself to e affected by the pain of others produce solidarity. If suffering does not ring us together, nothing can. Loving-kindness brings human beings together and closer. It rings about inter-conceitedness to experience another as my brother and sister-an awareness of the human family.
The Cross stands for the compassion of God suffering with us. The body broken and the blood poured out for humanity on the Cross is the body and blood of the compassionate Saviour. Unrestricted and unconditional love moves Him to embrace the suffering and wounded humanity. It is the manifestation of His ultimate love for the poor and downtrodden groaning under the weight of socio-political oppression, economic exploitation and religious legalism. Jesus Christ on the Cross shares their lot to the very end. He was totally poor and wholly outcast on the Cross. He takes upon Himself the suffering humanity and suffers with everyone who is being tortures and crucified on the Cross of life. He achieves our redemption nt y power but by going through intense pain on our behalf. Jesus chose to help us by sharing our life, our loneliness, our agony and death.It is by being us fully that He has redeemed us. He experienced all that we humans go through in life-fear, mental anguish, anxiety, hunger, thirst, rejection, humiliation, persecution, pain and death. Thus He is very near to the crucified people of our time. That is why the suffering masses instinctively find affinity with the suffering Christ on the Cross.
The death of Jesus on the Cross cannot be considered to be that of a martyr, because martyrs are killed in spite of themselves. Even though their noble motive is to choose death instead of opposing the will of God for them, they remain powerless to save themselves from their enemies. The position of Lord Jesus Christ, however, is clearly different. His authority would have enabled Him to save himself from His oppressors, had He chosen to be so. But since the salvation of the human race depended upon his willing acceptance of crucifixion, mankind would have been lost eternally, had He chosen to save Himself.
It is not sufficient to view the death of Jesus Christ merely as a touching episode in history, but also as a crucial accident upon which our present spiritual life as well as eternal happiness depends. The Apostle Paul understood this vital truth and emphasized it in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. The verses which I quote illustrate this important message: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself to me.”(Galatians 2:20). “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”(Romans 6:6); “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”(II Corinthians 5:17).
I have said above that His authority would have enabled Him to save Himself from His oppressors had He chosen so, but in choosing to die a shameful and humiliating death on the Cross He fulfilled the prophecies. The Roman soldiers who took Him to the Calvary did not know what they were doing, because they were in dakness of heathenism; neither did the Jewish leaders, because they had deliberately shut their eyes to the light, becoming as blind as anyone who keeps his eyes closed for a long time. They fulfilled the prophecies concerning their Messiah without knowing it, and in so doing they proved Jesus Christ to be their Messiah, even though they denied it with their lips. By helping to nail Him to the Cross, they fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 22:16 which says: “For dogs have surrounded Me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me.They pierced My hands and My feet..” and by placing Him on the Cross between two thieves, they fulfilled the prophecy of Prophet Isaiah 53:9,12 which runs : “And they made His grave with the wicked-but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth…Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong. He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” The Roman soldiers proved unwittingly that Jesus Christ was true Messiah of the Jews, about whom the prophets had spoken, for when they divided his clothing among them, they fulfilled the prophecy which says: “They divide My garments among them.”(Psalm 22; 18).; and when they got his robe, woven without a seam, they drew lots for it, fulfilling the remainder of the prophecy in that verse: “And for My clothing they cast lots”. By stripping him of his garment, they fulfilled another prophecy, which runs: “I can count all my bones, They look and stare at me.”(Psalms 22:17).
This Crucified One was fitted with a crown of thorns, and over his head were written these words: “King of the Jews”. Those with perception can see other glorious diadems gracing the beauty of his countenance, symbolizing wisdom, beneficent power, and celestial holiness. These royal attributes combined to form an even greater crown-that of His redemptive love, displayed through His words and deeds.
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