Good Friday: It doesn't make sense; It does make sense

Friday, April 14, 2017

Good Friday

On the cross Jesus bears the weight of all the evil there is in the world, all the misery, the deceit, the hatred, the agony, the physical, mental and psychological pain, the betrayal, the denial, the ridicule, the humiliation, the crushing disappointment and even the sense of abandonment and total helplessness. He does it for you and He does it for me. He does it because we have hurt people and he does it because life has hurt us as well. On the cross He gives us a place to hang our own pain and misery and everything else I mentioned up above. On the cross He bears our own sin as well.

Time spent meditating on the suffering and death of Our Lord is time invested in our ultimate salvation. Time spent mediating on the suffering and death of Our Lord is time spent learning to make sense of what happens in this life, and the message is this: it doesn’t make sense.

So much in our lives doesn’t make sense. So many things have happened which we are powerless to explain or to wrap our minds around. I believe that this experience of senseless hopelessness is part of the agony that Christ bore on the cross which culminates in His cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

But there is a second message that the cross offers us, and it is a message that contradicts the first: it does make sense. During your darkest moments, gaze on the cross in meditation or in silence, and this message will eventually come to your mind and calm your senseless agony.

And so, we have to say this about the cross: it does make sense, and it doesn’t make sense. And we have to rest in the contradiction. That’s what he called it, Simeon the prophet who held the infant Jesus and spoke to His mother. He will be a “sign of contradiction” to the world. (Luke 2:34).

Look at your own life. There is a lot of good in you. And there is also evil in which you have been complicit. And how many times has something happened to you which has made you want to cry out: “This isn’t fair!” or even “This doesn’t make sense!” Your life therefore is itself a contradiction, and your contradiction can find its home in the contradiction of the cross.

Saint Benedict doesn’t specifically mention “contradiction” but in essence he addresses it in the fourth step of humility: “under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, [the monk’s] heart quietly embraces suffering without weakening or seeking escape.” (RB 7:35-36)

When Christ bids us to “carry your cross,” He is telling us to accept the contradictions which we find in our lives and then to look to the cross, where Contradiction finds its fullest expression. And, united with the cross, we bear the pain, always remembering that the Cross is not the end of the story. It is merely one terrible yet necessary stop along the way. Resurrection is almost upon us. And then all contradictions dissolve into endless joy.

God bless you! Have a wonderful weekend. Happy Easter to you!