It’s so easy to think of Jesus’ death as something that is irrelevant to us today. When we look at a Crucifix, we might remark about how elaborate or plain it is. We might listen to a recitation of the Passion of Our Lord with more concern about getting our parts in instead of meditating on the actual events being recounted. As 21st Century Americans, the Crucifixion that happened nearly 2000 years ago in another part of the world may as well have occurred in another galaxy for all the importance on our day-to-day lives.
Yet, the prophet Isaiah points out that the Passion and Death of Our Lord is more relevant to us today than any other event in our lives. Isaiah said, “Yet it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured, [ . . . ] He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by His stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon Him the guilt of us all.”
Jesus did not die for His own sins, because he was “without sin”, as the second reading reminds us, but for our sins. He died to atone for humanity going astray and failing to follow God. He died in reparation for all those times we do not choose to love God and our neighbor, but instead to love ourselves in spite of God and neighbor. He died for all those sins we have committed and will commit so that we might receive God’s forgiveness whenever we ask. Jesus died so that we might “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help,” as the Letter to the Hebrews says.
As sinners, the Passion and Death of Our Lord, which we just recited, should be a moment of great joy, hence today being called Good Friday. Jesus died so that we no longer have to fear death. If we follow God’s commandments and trust in His mercy and love, we will receive the reward of eternal life with Him in Heaven. This is why Jesus died, and this is why the Passion of the Lord is not just something that happened 2000 years ago in another region of the world, but lives in us throughout our daily lives. As we venerate the Cross, may we do so with joy and gratitude. As we will say together, “Come, let us worship.”
