Good Friday Reflections

As I contemplate Good Friday, two things stick out to me.

First thought: You can’t really love until you’ve given up on hate. Jesus shows us this pretty clearly in the passion narrative. He is faced with hatred, cruelty, violence, and force throughout the narrative. And at no time does he respond in kind.

I’m reminded of 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul tells us all about what love is:

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Hate involves hostility towards another. It has to do with seeing another person as an enemy and wanting their destruction or death. Often hatred finds comfort in the creedal belief of the ends justify the means. I’ve mentioned this many times before – with the ends justify the means foundational belief everything and everyone is disposable. And all the more so when it comes to one’s enemies.

If we are consumed with hate, is there room for love? I don’t know. But I do know that if we give up hate, then there is plenty of room for love. In fact, we have to give up what we think is the right to see another as an enemy, even if that other person intends to do us harm. We have to put aside our desire for someone else to be diminished. We have to set aside our desire to cause harm to someone who is causing us harm – retribution.

When we have given up on retribution, hatred, and seeing enemies, then we can truly love. We have to give up on these things though. We have to hold no hope in them, no faith in them, and see them for what they are: empty and unsatisfying.

Love is the only thing that can satisfy us and fill us.

The second thought is that the passion narrative showcases who people really are.

Pontius Pilate gives the appearance of strength. He represents the Roman Empire after all. He has a war horse. Soldiers march at his command. He had the Aquila, the Roman symbol of an eagle that took on quasi-religious importance. He had the title of Roman prefect of Judeaa, given to him directly from Emperor Tiberius.

Yet, for all of that, he was a coward who allowed an innocent man to be executed. Why? Because he was afraid of the crowd. He was afraid of what the emperor would do to him if there was a riot. He washed his hands and gave into the crowd. He wasn’t willing to take responsibility. He was more interested in saving his own skin than in doing the right thing.

The Temple authorities had the backing of Rome – Caiaphas was appointed to the position of High Priest by the Romans. He serves for a long period of time in the position, showing political savvy and working well with the empire. There was a history of Chief Priests being killed off. But Caiaphas served from 14-46. Ultimately, he was more interested in maintaining an institutional status quo that he benefited from.

And there was the crowd, acting like crowds always do – savagely. Crowds want blood. They thirst for it when they get riled up.

Pilate, Caiaphas, and the crowd all lived by the ends justify the means. They treated Jesus with cruelty, scapegoating, violence, dehumanization, and more. And they wanted Jesus to respond in kind. They expected him to – to be just like they were. They wanted him to so that they could be justified in their violence, their labeling, their cruelty. They wanted him to be just like them.

And yet he didn’t act like them. He was different. He embodied love. He lived the way of peace. He saw that the means and the ends are equally important. He chose to see the humanity of his enemies. He showed who he was and so did everyone else.