Good Friday - The Truth & The Cross

Today is Good Friday, a day when Christians around the world commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus. 

Known by various names—such as Great Friday, Holy Friday, and even Black Friday—the term "Good Friday" is believed to derive from the Middle English phrase "God's Friday," much like how the word "goodbye" evolved from "God be with you."

As I reflect on the Gospel narratives of Jesus' Passion, I am often struck by Pontius Pilate’s reaction to certain members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, bringing Jesus before him. He oscillates between his disdain for having to appease the Jewish religious leaders and his desire to maintain peace during Passover.

Pilate's position was precarious. Tiberius Caesar cared only about ensuring the wealth and resources plundered from Judea continued flowing back to Rome. Failure to secure this could land Pilate in serious trouble.

Adding to his turmoil, Pilate's wife approaches him, pleading that he have nothing to do with Jesus because she had a troubling dream about Him. He dismisses her warning, famously washing his hands of the affair, attempting to shift the blame onto the members of the Sanhedrin who sought Jesus' death.

At one point, while speaking with Pilate, Jesus states, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate's response—"What is truth?"—is both rhetorical and tinged with world-weariness, cynicism, and an air of hopelessness.

To be frank, I find myself somewhat sympathetic toward Pilate. He spent so much time navigating the treacherous waters of first-century politics that he could no longer see through any lens other than suspicion. 

For him, truth was ambiguous; what mattered most was what would curry favor or avoid punishment.

In Pilate's worldview, right and wrong, justice and injustice, held little significance. What mattered was expedience, and any trace of optimism he may have once possessed appeared to have vanished. 

The tragic irony is that the Truth stood before him, yet he could not recognize it. The same can be said of us. Far too often, we miss the point of the Cross, connecting it to sacrifice rather than infinite love.  

We hold on to the belief that God's favor can be won only if we do enough to deserve it, and then we tend to hold others to that same standard.  

As Fr. Richard Rohr poignantly states, "The crucifixion of Jesus is the preeminent example of God’s love reaching out to us. It is at the same moment the worst and best thing in human history." 

How often do we live according to the standards of the kingdoms of this world—standards that offer little in return while demanding so much from us? We frequently find ourselves giving and sacrificing what truly matters for what does not. 

We resign ourselves to a world that falls short of what it should be, making statements like, "Well, that's just the way it is," or "That's how it goes," without fully contemplating their implications.

Yet, for those of us who identify as Christians, we have a different path to follow. Gerard Manley Hopkins noted that the Truth before us is the eternal and universal Christ, who can be experienced in "10,000 places."

In their book The Last Week, John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg assert that "... the crucifixion of Jesus reveals how far the kingdom of God can be misinterpreted and misrepresented." 

On this Good Friday, let us dedicate ourselves to representing the truth about the crucifixion and how the Truth who was on the Cross wanted his followers to live without cynicism, weariness, and despair, and to recognize that, as Rohr reminds us, "the cross was a freely chosen revelation of total love on God’s part." 

This is the Truth that liberates us to live abundantly and eternally. 

May it be so for you today and every day moving forward. And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.