SURVIVAL OR DEATH?

First Reading: Is 52:13-53:12
Second Reading: Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9 
Gospel: Jn 18:1-19:42

It is finished! Yes, the plan devised by Jewish leaders and carried out by romans is over. But who says it is finished. Do the Jews tell this? Do they believe that they have done away with Jesus forever with the crucifixion? No. they put guards for the tomb of Jesus. Their trouble with Jesus is still on, not over. Then who is satisfied with today’s cruel death? It is God, the victim in the crucifixion is the one who is completely satisfied. Jesus says, it is finished (Jn 19:30). Yes, with the passion and death of Jesus the salvation for humanity is achieved once and for all. The ancient enemy is defeated. The cross of Jesus becomes the door for all of us to enter heaven. His sacrifice on the cross pleases God the Father to overlook our sins and restore our eternity for which we are originally created. And so, God who was in constant tussle with humans in the Old Testament has finished that battle forever today on the cross.

It is also to be said that the cross of Jesus shows the wickedness of this world. What we see on the cross is the wickedness of the world that has grown so high and has gone to a great extreme that one cannot even imagine. The Sanhedrin convicts Jesus of blasphemy for which stoning to death is the punishment. But they prefer to hand him over to romans. In the passion narrative we hear that Jesus is first taken to Annas who was earlier a high priest and now a father-in-law of present high priest Caiaphas (Jn 18:13). Here we see the dynasty politics that has corrupted the holiness of sacred office in the religion. This dynasty politics prefers the death of Jesus with the view that it will keep the nations united and save the Jerusalem temple from romans captivity. In front of Pontius Pilate the Jews accuse Jesus as rebellion who has proclaimed himself as king in the place of Caesar. They conveniently change their charge on Jesus from blasphemer in religion to rebellion in civil society. Although Jews have authority to kill Jesus for blasphemy, they say to the Pilate that they have no authority to kill Jesus (Jn 18:31). Their lie has no limit. Pilate repeatedly admitting that He has found no guilt in Jesus (Jn 18:38; 19:4) finally sentences Jesus to crucifixion. He does so to win the favour of Jews so that he can secure his position as governor in the Roman Empire. Jews profess Caesar as their Lord (Jn 19:15), just to get away with Jesus, which is a violation of first commandment. The authorities in Judaism use Jesus as a scapegoat to win the good will of the romans so that their authorities is kept safe. Lie and deception are at play in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Jesus has authority and freedom to give up cross. But he willingly accepts the cross. In the way of the cross we notice that Jesus gets up after repeated falling down. He is resolute to die on the cross just as romans are keen on putting up a terrifying show on Calvary to prevent any possible rebellion in the future. The determination of Jesus to die on the cross in mount Calvary is to show how much God is patient with His creature. The creator is brutally killed by the creature. What is the response of the creator? Forgiveness; Lord forgive them, they know not what they do (Lk 23:34). This is why St. Paul says where sin abounds, there mercy, love and grace of God abounds all the more (Rom 5:20). The wickedness, lie and deception in greatest degree could not yield the anger of God. This is the power of the cross. The snare of the devil to distance humans from God through crucifixion of Jesus could not win. How can a God who created humans for Himself could give up on him/her on the account of consenting to the intruder? We are the heir of God, part of God’s holy family. The intruder, the devil comes to create division in our family. The father in the family gives first preference to the heir. He does not pay attention to the intruder. If we are also to give our heed only to the father in our family, we would be saints. The willingness of Jesus to give up this human life on the cross has elevated Him to be the ruler of the earth. The lives of the saints also teach us the same; their desire to lose earthly attachment by singularly focusing on God has made them great in the kingdom of God. The people who desired life and survival plotted the death of Jesus. Today when we compromise with worldly standards of life in the name of survival we are also choosing lie and deception over truth. The first reading in today’s ceremony taken from Isaiah states that the kings are speechless (Is 52:15). Yes, rulers who choose lie and deception over truth to withhold power are dump found in front of a king who has stood for truth till the end, surprisingly without even losing the kingdom. On this day let us decide what do we choose? To live or to rule. To survive this earthly life or to become a ruler of this world through our saintly lives. God created us to rule the earth (Gen 1:28). Jesus was born to die so that He can rule the world. If only we live to die we may gain lordship. On the contrary, if we chose to survive in this life, then we may yield to the principles of this world. Let us decide today. What do we need? The cross of Christ for a moment or the cross of Hell for eternity. May the blood and water gushed forth from the heart of Jesus have mercy on us and lead us to mount Calvary. Amen.

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