Good Friday

The Cross of Christ is the point where heaven and earth meet. Though it is a day of sadness and mourning, it presages Easter when Jesus rose from the dead, 3 days after his crucifixion and death on the Cross. His victory over death is meant to teach us that hope endures and that individual suffering is subsumed under the collective suffering of humankind. It also means that the Cross of Christ and his suffering transforms our individual suffering and that in turn suffering has both meaning and purpose.
The Cross of Christ is a challenge and some how the pain and suffering of humankind is not only an invitation to participate in Christ’s suffering but also promises us a life that that will finally spell a victory over evil in the world. The evil in the world and the forces of darkness that have enslaved us will be defeated.
Christians believe that God created us to live in harmony with nature and other human beings. The original story in Genesis narrates that God created man to live in paradise. But our first parents, Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of knowledge, which God had forbidden them to eat. Satan, tempted them deceitfully leading them to believe that eating the fruit of the tree would make them like God .
In this hedonistic world where pleasure , power and money control the lives of many, many run away from the crosses of life and become cynical or disillusioned and even bitter when faced with suffering and when things don’t go the way they planned. But the Cross symbolises the victory that we will win over death if we imitate and accept the suffering and pain we all experience in life in union with the suffering of Christ.
If we have a smooth journey in life, we will never experience the depth of life. Life would be reduced to a meaningless chase after riches, power and self centred desires and goals which in the end serve no one and neither the self. At first it may seem strange that God made man in Jesus, accepted a painful death and lived as a servant of God and others. He came not to lord it over others, but to offer his life as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of humankind and to restore the relationship with God from whom we were separated because of sin.
Human history has always been a swing between two contradictory forces of hatred, injustice, oppression and violence, against a life lived in love, solidarity, justice, fairness and humane and harmonious living. There is always light and shadow operating simultaneously in the world but many opt for the first contradictory force and few for the second. In today’s world we face unprecedented change when technology is often used for evil purposes and technology has become master and we have become slaves.
The Cross challenges us to restore the balance and to uphold the values of humaneness that respect the dignity and rights of individuals. While success is in itself not a bad thing, the measure by which we are judged today is through achievements, the power and influence we wield and how we are celebrated by society. The values of integrity, honesty, humility, loyalty and solidarity are forgotten.

The Cross of Christ reminds us that the world as it is today is a far cry from the values of the Kingdom of God. Leaders today are often arrogant, filled with self-pride, violent and trample upon the rights of the innocent and the vulnerable. Christ preached a life of kindness, compassion, gratitude, and special care of the marginalized in society.
With 9 countries possessing nuclear weapons of destruction, we live with a precarious balance of terror, mutual distrust and deterrence. Nations pursue their self -interest with utter disregard for fairness, equality and morality. The norms of society are often supportive of a social structure that violates the best in humanity.
We live however in hope that a better world will emerge. The Good Friday message is that no matter where the forces of evil may lead us, we will rise after every fall, again and again and that the forces of evil will finally be vanquished forever. And that just as Christ rose from the dead, we too will one day rise from the dead.

Authored by: Janina Gomes