THROUGH JESUS, GOD DRAWS ALL THINGS BACK TO HIMSELF

 

The Chief priests and the Pharisees unite in a plot to kill Jesus, not because he broke the Sabbath law by healing the sick, but for blasphemy in claiming himself to be the Son of God and for raising Lazarus from the dead. They found a worth issue to accuse him of, using the tactic of scapegoating:  a hierarchical group of a society, in a conflict situation, decides to blame an individual allegedly responsible for the social, political and religious instability.

That these religious figures like Caiaphas preserve their socio-religious positions and influences, the group decides that “one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” This scapegoating strategy is followed even today by political and religious leaders.  But God stands for the Truth. He stands for the ‘scapegoated’ victims. God does not want divisions and violence, instead, He wants a society based on love, justice, peace, forgiveness, compassion and unity. Through Jesus, God wants to draw all People of all nations on earth, to Himself — as one body in the One Lord of all.

The Pharisees and the socio-political leaders were socially, psychologically and ideologically insecure. They felt unsafe, apprehending a people’s uprising against them and the Roman Occupants. There was a sense of future uncertainty about their continuity, control and dominance over the Jewish society. We know well that all conscience acknowledges the truth, the good and what is just. They knew what they ought to have done. Their socio-religious instability and insecurity pressed on them to put Jesus to death and be done with.  From the heaven, His home, Jesus who descended to the earth for the sake of humankind, was killed by his own kith and kin. He who  became a man for us all, –  lived, taught, served and healed – was betrayed, denied, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, spitted upon, whips blowed, weighed down by the heavy Cross, hands bound, stretched and nailed to a wood, crucified, side pierced with a sword, died and was buried.

A somber Good Friday recalls the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Calvary, inviting Christians to accompany Jesus in his suffering on the cross.  No Mass is celebrated on this day. Tabernacles are empty of the Eucharist all over the world. The faithful and all people of good will (People of God), are drawn to the cross, following in the footsteps of Jesus on to Calvary. But, why? Precisely because it perfects human nature through his Passion. As a fully human person, Jesus identified himself with sinful humanity and did not want to die. No human being wants to die just for the sake of it.  Rather, Jesus accepted it, as his Father’s will– to take upon himself the sins of the world. He chose obedience to death out of a filial love –  an obedience learnt through human nature.

 

Christ’s Passion on the cross, led him in the midst of human frailties that destroyed him; but made it clear that “by his stripes we were indeed healed.” Entering into “godforsakenness” his  sacrificial death brought “the divine light to the darkest place”, writes Bishop Barron. His willing obedience in sacrificing his self, Jesus “reestablished the right relationship between divinity and humanity.” All this happened for establishing the Kingdom of God, inhabited by a united people of good will. The Son Jesus who called God his Father accomplished so, in full agreement with the Father. As the image of the Father, he executes his Father’s project: bestowing new life to all. Humanity had pinned their hopes on Him.  In facts, he fulfils that hope, raising humanity up, by falling down and dying. The dormant life-principle inside the ‘seed’ grows by being mixed with the earth, water, heat, air and light, that together crack open the seed, to bring much fruit.  This dying self leads to regeneration – a new life. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” because this grain of wheat dies to produce much fruit, by bringing all people where God is. And Jesus said, “it was for this purpose that I came to this hour”. The enemies “of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” (cf. Jn12:20-30). In the Gethsemane Garden Jesus prayed for the strength to fulfil this project of the Father. On the Cross with courage he conquered death, to give new life to humanity and to all beings on earth – bringing all things to completion.

God’s work was undoubtedly all finished at the beginning of the world. It was in perfect unison, but humanity failed Him  through disobedience. God fixed ‘another day’ for people to listen to him (obey) and reach Him.  The covenant of creation, once broken through idolatry and earthly preoccupations, was renewed and sealed within human hearts with a desire to seek intimacy with God, and be with Him forever. The New Covenant, therefore, was established through Jesus’ death on the Cross, extending to all peoples. Jesus draws everyone to Himself by service of love, indicating how all peoples in all times will be able to see him and encounter him. His death on the Cross will bring forth fruitfulness for all peoples. Through his Resurrection, the dead grain of wheat will become the bread of life for the entire world (cf. Benedict XVI, Wednesday Audience, June 14, 2006). God will lift him up and draw all peoples to himself through his Son and in the Spirit, and all nations will experience Jesus through this sacrificial love. From the Cross Jesus draws all to experience God’s love.

Jesus is more than a spiritual teacher. Bishop Barron says: “Something else is at stake in him and our relation to him.” As the Son of God, Jesus is divine. Jesus declares: “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.” So are we. According to Charles Williams, the basic foundation of Christianity is “coinherence,” – mutual indwelling of all plants, animals, planets, human beings, angels, and saints. According to Bishop Barron, the oneness of all sons, brothers, daughters, sisters, mothers, fathers, associates, Church members, is established through the Trinitarian relationship – God, the ultimate reality marked by the capacity for unity by a mutual act of love.  Therefore, we all are related and inter-linked. Jesus’ death and resurrection invites us to enter fully into their plural divine-coinherence, whose linking love is the Holy Spirit.

The inner blindness (Jn 9:39) often keeps human race from this union. The Jewish hierarchy presumed that “the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” We know well that earthly nationhood and nationalism are on the rise today. But the desire for an “everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:6) has been there in human history – to be God’s and with God as His descendants. But the rulers and religious leaders have failed to keep this covenant. Kingdoms were divided, people forced into exile, Jerusalem fallen (Ez 33:21), temple pillaged, and kings deposed. Yet, God will gather the scattered children from among the nations and bring them back to the promised land. God will make them one nation. Jesus, the new David, through his ruling from the Cross, will bring peace on earth. God will dwell on earth. He will be our God and we will be his people. There will be one kingdom, one nation, one God, united by an everlasting love.

 

The new commandment of love, given by Jesus at the Last Supper, was executed on the Cross. The high priest Caiaphas fail to realize the truth; he thinks by eliminating Jesus, the problem of destabilizing the society caused by Jesus, will be solved, and consequently, it will preserve the status quo. But, we know, Jesus’ death will gather the dispersed children of God: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (Jn 12:32). Jesus’ death becomes the key to the Kingdom of God on earth.

 

According to Sarah Coleman, the Cross is a symbol of death and life, hate and love, violence and peace, accusation and forgiveness, sin and purity, brokenness and wholeness, as well as of gathering to all people to one community of brothers and sisters. Through it, affirms Bishop Barron, “everything is gained, destruction and restoration, death and victory. The cross, once the cruelest form of execution, is now a symbol of abundant life.”

 

Christ died for people out of a choice made in love. God manifested his love through human Jesus to reveal his divinity. Bishop Barron says that the cross was a brutal instrument, through which “the fallen powers of the world are subverted; sin, death and the devil are vanquished.” The crucifixion is “the portal to the resurrection” – to a new life, a new humanity, a new earth.

 

As St. Paul says, we are called to share “in his sufferings and become like him in his death.” We read, “Though he was of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in his appearance found as a man, he humbled himself by being obedient to death on the cross.” (Phil 2: 6-8). Through this humble act of will, God fulfilled the plan of uniting the whole humanity in Christ. As we gaze at Christ hanging on the cross, let all pain and anguish, struggles and achievements be seen with God’s lens, that goes way beyond the perspectives of this earthly life.

God is ever alive and active in creation, wherein  no created thing can escape from His grace. God in flesh has uncovered all secrets and has raised up all who have slept in sin. Jesus who died in the flesh, God has freed Him and all those in bondage, and has enlightened those in darkness. All beings, created in His image, are welcomed to live with Him, in Him and through Him, forming only one person, one Body. God has “refashioned our warped nature in His image”, to restore to us the life with Him, for the Kingdom of heaven has been prepared for us all from all eternity (cf. Office of reading, Ancient homily on Holy Saturday).

 

 

THE ROASTED AND SHARED PASSOVER LAMB

 

 

Christ, the Passover Lamb, clothed in humanity that is capable of suffering, sacrificed himself for the  suffering people of God.  He triumphed over the diseases of soul and body. He dealt with a fatal blow the man’s destroyer, death. He was led like a lamb; slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed humanity from servitude to the world; freed us from slavery; from darkness to light. He sealed human souls with his Spirit and blood.  He covered death with shame. He smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring. He chose humanity to be his own forever.

Saint Melito of Sardis writes: “In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.” He was a man who was made to hang on the tree; was buried in the earth, and raised from the dead. The mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb of God was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the late afternoon, died in the early evening, and buried at night. But no bone of his was broken; his body knew no decay. He is alive and active now in the world.

Jesus’ disciples prepare a Passover supper with the eating of a lamb, sacrificed in remembrance of the lambs of the original Passover, whose blood had been smeared on the doorposts. In Exodus 12:1-8 we read: “If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb[…]That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”

Through this Passover meal, Jesus affirms John the Baptist’s prophecy that he would be the unblemished Lamb of God, to be sacrificed. This sacrifice, made present at every Eucharist for our sake only, because God does not need  it. “We participate in the act by which divinity and humanity are reconciled”, when we eat his body and drink the blood of the Lamb. 

But we, like Judas at the Last Supper, fail to see the sacrificial Lamb. We get busy in ‘doing what we plan to do’ – betray Jesus. Human history proves that God is often opposed by stubborn people, preferring sin to sanctity, evil to good. Being in intimacy with Jesus, is no guarantee of  one’s faithfulness in fellowship — the sanctity of the  Last Supper is destroyed by a friend’s betrayal, preferring darkness to light (truth), money to service, a hateful kiss to love. In fact, Judas asks in exchange,  “What are you willing to give me?”(Mt 26:15). It is the same Judas, in order to hide his betraying action, over-confidently self-affirms, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Most of us act and behave that way.

The Prophetic Servant, the gentle Lamb  is called, commissioned and disciplined by God, into a well-trained tongue in order to  communicate  the word loud and clear, to all the nations (John 17:8). This gentle Lamb lies low, beaten and scourged, face struck and spat upon, yet obedient to God’s plan and not disgraced, because Jesus knows God will vindicate him.  We too are disciplined by God through our suffering, and  infidelity so that we may fully embrace his love. At the same Supper, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet –a visual demonstration of the new commandment: “Love one another,” through loving charity.

How can we console Jesus with our own compassion and solidarity as he hangs upon the cross? The answer is: through the very lives we live today. To relieve the loneliness and ease others’ suffering and pain, we need to go beyond being near Jesus and his Cross. We must tend to him in others by carrying ‘our own crosses’. We must recognize the present grewsome realities in the world, in our country and in our own neighborhood, and offer acts of mercy and solidarity, being  moved by love. Christians in the local communities can support the social works done by the local agencies, clubs, association, etc.  irrespective of creed, caste and colour.

 

Foreign donations have helped the Churches in various ways to expand its infrastructures and works of charity through the development and sponsorship projects. Christians groups, dioceses and parishes, spend crores on building magnificent churches. It’s time shift radically and attend fully to building the human beings, the temples of the Holy Spirit. People will experience Jesus only by following him on the way to the Cross, to save humanity through loving service.

On Holy Thursday and Good Friday, we are invited not just to ritually wash the feet of twelve persons, perform the passion narrative and kiss the crucifix; instead go out to the periphery and serve the needy, through voluntary service. This is the challenge for all Christians – doing the will of the Father, as Jesus did.  We have miles to go, in order to support and cooperate with all those who work for the common good. As we face a tough time to witness to Jesus dying on the Cross for the salvation of humanity, we need to act to unite people, and work for Peace and Justice.

How can I serve those in need in the coming days?

Let this be our prayer: “Lord Jesus, it is so mysterious to see how people rejected you, your message of merciful love, and your mighty works. You were the innocent one who went about doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, and feeding the hungry, and yet you were condemned and crucified by your people. Help me to embrace suffering and persecution for the sake of your name.”

 

‘DOING’ AT LENT

 

The Church prescribes prayer, fasting and almsgiving as three disciplines to ‘do’ for spiritual benefits. Too much in the recent past Catholics have shifted to the interior dimensions from the exterior, i.e. faith-in-action. Christianity is not about attitudes, ideas, intentions and principles. Lent is about ‘doing’ prayer, fasting and almsgiving that involve both the body and the mind.  More than the interior spiritual progress, we are called to ‘do’ and by doing we draw closer to God’s holiness. Jesus did, and doing so, he preached. He “put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’” He looked up to his Father and inserted his fingers into the man’s ears, created – as Bishop Barron says – a ‘current’,  to plug him into the divine energy.

 

Changing a mind (attitude) is not same as changing a beggar’s economic status.  You need to be ‘mindless’ for doing the change. What, therefore, is needed is a change of mind to ‘do’, than to philosophize.   Instead of being passive by-stander, mind-changes will find expression in action – which is  a change of heart that loves concretely. Doing something that makes my heart change. Doing a charity is a fact, based on time, space and person.  This sums up the single commandment: “ “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might, and with all your mind… and you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

 

The single condition for Christian discipleship is ‘doing good’ for God,  turning other-centric from personal ego and needs, projects and plans. More than moral reform, Lenten metanoia has to do with ‘doing’ – a fuller consciousness of being through ‘works of mercy’. It is ‘gut-wrenching’ to follow Christ who demands that we deny ourselves and take up our daily crosses and follow him. The cross means, dying to mere ‘thinking’, and rising to active living. Crucifying of the ego, involves ‘walking’ – moving up to the Calvary.

The mass shift towards interior spirituality and prayer of the Catholic crowd is a large part of the problem of non-practice of ‘works of mercy’. The ‘raucous voices’ of the majority, the brazen bray of the  market culture of spirituality, the babbling Babel of religious ritualism — makes us deaf to ‘doing God’s work’. Therefore, we have to shift and move towards Lenten almsgiving. Away from the common crowd, and beyond the ritualistic Lenten liturgy, we can concretely ‘do’ something for the poor and the needy. Similarly, the Lenten fasting, going beyond the hunger for God, is all about emptying the stomach in order to fill the stomach of the hungry. The danger lies in spiritualizing the same, and forgetting to satisfy the physical hunger of the poor for food and drink. Self-fasting has to spur the  deepest desire to satisfy the hunger of another being.

During Lent, we are asked to focus more intently on "almsgiving," which means donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity. As one of the three pillars of Lenten practice, almsgiving is "a witness to fraternal charity" and "a work of justice pleasing to God." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2462). More than just an interior spiritual journey lent is  a time when we actively engage in acts of charity, works of mercy, and almsgiving. Almsgiving is the ‘heart’ of Lent. It is not merely about dropping a few coins into the donation basket. It’s a profound act of self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. The Greek term for almsgiving means “mercy,” and it extends beyond material possessions. It’s about giving of ourselves—our time, talents, and resources—to alleviate the suffering of those in need ¹.

Here are few practical suggestions, let’s try to do them: consider donating the money you’d spend on daily indulgences, to a charitable cause. Redirecting these funds can help us grow in mercy and justice during Lent ¹.

The Corporal Works of Mercy:

• Feeding the Hungry: Providing food to those who go without nourishment.
• Giving Drink to the Thirsty: Ensuring access to clean water for the parched.
• Clothing the Naked: Offering warmth and dignity to those lacking proper attire.
• Harbouring the Homeless: Welcoming the displaced and vulnerable.
• Visiting the Sick: Bringing comfort and companionship to the infirm.
• Ransoming the Captive: Advocating for justice and freedom.
• Burying the Dead: Showing compassion to grieving families ².

Detachment and Mercy:

• Almsgiving helps us practice detachment from earthly possessions. It’s not just about giving away material goods; it’s about giving of ourselves. When we extend our hands to those in need, we mirror God’s love and mercy.
• Witness to Fraternal Charity: Almsgiving is one of the three pillars of Lenten practice. It’s a work of justice that pleases God. By sharing our blessings, we become a living testimony to fraternal charity ³.

Practical Ways to Give Alms

• Time: Volunteer at a local shelter, spend time with the elderly, or mentor a child.
• Talents: Use your skills—whether it’s cooking, teaching, or repairing—to benefit others.
• Money: Contribute to charitable organizations or directly assist those in need.
• Prayer: Pray for those suffering and offer spiritual support.⁴

In summary, Lent invites us to move beyond introspection and embrace a radical love that reaches out to our fellow human beings. Let our acts of charity, works of mercy, and almsgiving be a testament to our faith and compassion.