Homily for Good Friday

In St. John's account of the Passion of Jesus, we hear it was the day before the Sabbath. This was a hectic day for the Jewish people because it was the preparation time for Passover. So everyone was incredibly busy with the many, many tasks that had to be completed before these observances began—everyday things but necessary things that couldn't be done during the holy days.

So there was a real sense of busyness, of people focused on a particular mission. These people were far too busy, far too focused on their tasks, to notice what was taking place in Jerusalem's official business.

Unlike the other Gospel accounts of this scene, John's account of the Passion of Jesus does not include jeering crowds demanding Jesus' death. In John's account, Jesus' arrest and trial took place in the middle of the night, when most people were sleeping. Pilate, some soldiers, and some Jewish authorities were there, but not as many others as the other Gospels indicate.

Some scripture scholars say that John's account is the most accurate description of what happened on that first Good Friday. The death of Jesus was not the focus of the day for the people in Jerusalem. The image of vast crowds demanding Jesus' death in the other three Gospels may not have been the case; Pilate and his forces may not have allowed that. To them, the issue of Jesus was a Jewish matter that only concerned them in so far as it could cause chaos in town. So, they dealt with it as they would any other matter: straightforwardly, quickly, and coldly. And so, these scholars conclude, Jesus died practically alone and out of sight of the general public.

So, while the Jewish people of Jerusalem went about the many tasks in preparation for Passover, God was putting into motion a second Passover.

As a brisk trade in the buying and selling of lambs for Passover was taking place all over the city, the Lamb of God was slain just outside the gates.

While the preparations for the Passover Seder continued, the new Passover was completed on a bleak and lonely hill.

During the Jewish community's celebration of their flight from slavery to nationhood, God was calling his people to a new flight from death to life.

In our contemporary world's busyness, the same thing takes place on this Good Friday.

This Good Friday continues to be a day of preparation. The events of this day are not an end in themselves but the means to a much more significant event. God completes the work of His second Genesis, in which He re-creates humankind in the Paschal mystery.

This Good Friday is God's calling us to a second Exodus journey, marked by the slaying of His Son, the Lamb, who becomes for us the new Passover Seder Meal – today is our exodus from the slavery of sin to the freedom of compassion and forgiveness, our Passover from this life to the life of God.