{"id":2476,"date":"2018-03-30T16:22:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T20:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2476"},"modified":"2018-03-30T16:22:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T20:22:05","slug":"good-friday-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/good-friday-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good Friday<\/a>
\nIsaiah 52:13-53:12
\nPsalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 (Luke 23:46)
\nHebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
\nJohn 18:1-19:42
\nMarch 30, 2018<\/p>\n

Every time we celebrate Mass, we are celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus giving his life on the Cross for us but today, \u2026today we listen to the story of what Jesus went through for us.<\/p>\n

It is a familiar story to us.\u00a0 There\u2019s the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.\u00a0 We remember how Peter denies Jesus three times. We might ask ourselves, do we turn away from Jesus in sin?\u00a0 Do we deny the truth that Jesus offers?<\/p>\n

He is scourged.\u00a0 He is mocked with a crown of thorns and purple cloak.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are the false accusations against him.\u00a0 In fact, when they bring Jesus to Pilate who asks, \u201cWhat charge do you bring against this man<\/em>?,\u201d their response is \u201cIf he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 It seems they have no real charge to bring against him.<\/p>\n

Pilate gets a lot of the blame for crucifying Jesus but three times Pilate says, \u201cI find no guilt in him.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Pilate\u2019s only fault in what happened is giving into the crowd.<\/p>\n

Jesus is innocent.\u00a0 Why must an innocent man be crucified?<\/p>\n

Last night our first reading was from Exodus and told of the Passover.\u00a0 In the Passover celebration, a lamb \u201cwithout blemish<\/em>\u201d was to be offered.\u00a0 Jesus is without blemish.\u00a0 He is without sin and he becomes the lamb that God offers as the sacrifice for our sins.<\/p>\n

Those who want Jesus crucified try to act \u201cinnocent\u201d.\u00a0 When Pilate tells them to judge him according to their law, they say, \u201cwe do not have the right to execute anymore.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 They are trying to look like law-abiding citizens but really, they just don\u2019t want to be blamed for Jesus\u2019 death.<\/p>\n

They try to look like friends of Caesar.\u00a0 They cover up their true feelings.\u00a0 They lie.\u00a0 They are full of pride.\u00a0 They are sinners.\u00a0 Of course, we too are sinners.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Jesus is crucified but his life is not taken from him.\u00a0 God is in control.\u00a0 Jesus never tries to hide.\u00a0 As his Passion begins, he goes to the same garden where he often met with his disciples so Judas knows where to find him.<\/p>\n

When Judas and a band of soldiers come looking for him, he actually goes to them and tells them that he is the one they are looking for.\u00a0 When questioned by the high priest, Jesus stands by what he said all along.<\/p>\n

Do we stand up against adversity or do we run and hide?\u00a0 Do we stand by what we have always said or do we try to twist our own words to save our skin?<\/p>\n

Jesus is not afraid.\u00a0 He offers no defense.<\/p>\n

His final words?\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is finished?\u00a0 Visibly his earthly life is finished.\u00a0 But \u201cit is finished<\/em>\u201d has a much deeper meaning.<\/p>\n

Many of the people were looking for a messiah who would become an earthly king and defeat their enemy the Romans.\u00a0 This is what they expected from the line of David but it was not God\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

We see God\u2019s plan in what we hear today from the prophet Isaiah.\u00a0 We hear of a suffering servant who will be marred \u201cbeyond human semblance.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Isaiah speaks of the servant as one who \u201chad done no wrong<\/em>\u201d and that \u201cit was our infirmities that he bore\u2026he was pierced for our offenses.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 purpose for coming is our salvation.\u00a0 This means he must die for our sins.\u00a0 This is his mission which is finished in his death on the Cross.<\/p>\n

Jesus died for us.\u00a0 In John 15:13, Jesus said, \u201cNo one has greater love than this,\u00a0to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Look at Jesus on the Cross and you can see God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

Knowing how much Jesus loves us, we should listen to him.\u00a0 We know he is motivated by absolute love.\u00a0 He has laid down his life for us and so we know we can trust him.\u00a0 We can give our lives to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Based on the love we see from God, may we say \u201cFather, into your hands I commend my spirit<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good Friday Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 (Luke 23:46) Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 John 18:1-19:42 March 30, 2018 Every time we celebrate Mass, we are celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus giving his life on the Cross for us but today, \u2026today we listen to the story of what Jesus went through for …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Good Friday Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,26,82],"tags":[27,167],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-DW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2476\/revisions\/2477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}