Dirty Dishes & the Cross

 In these holy days of the Triduum there is much to ponder- the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the call to hope, and the encounter with suffering. in the midst of it all, I've offered the following reflection for the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph for their series of Lenten Reflections. Today may be Holy Thursday, but I pray this Good Friday message reaching you wherever you are.

I have always loved Holy Thursday. That might seem like an odd way to start out a reflection on Good Friday, but as I sit with the many questions and the somberness of this day, I can’t help but recall that initial love found in foot washing, students turned friends, and memories of a dinner party we recall with each Eucharist.

Today, on Good Friday, I imagine the dirty dishes left behind. Signs of what was hoped for, quietly held in the stillness of a story gone awry. The cross is not what the disciples had anticipated. They surely had imagined triumph like we saw on Palm Sunday, a lauded Messiah who would save an oppressed people, who would overturn structures of domination and suffering just as surely as he had flipped the tables in the Temple.

Suffering is not on the top of any of our lists of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

And yet, today we stand at the foot of the cross and wonder: how did all this happen? What does it mean for us? Why did it have to happen and why would God let it? Simply and emphatically, why?

The answers to these questions resound in silence. They come with tears and grief, mourning and weeping, pain and anguish. These are natural responses to injustice and evil in our world. Any easy answers offered for such a catastrophe should certainly be deemed suspect.

God didn’t send Jesus to die on the cross. Jesus died because he claimed who he was and preached the Gospel- proclaiming good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, and healing for the outcast. This Good News was a call to right relationship with God and with every neighbor without distinction. It threatened the status quo, and for this, Jesus was killed. Ultimately, what Jesus’ death on the cross reveals is the fullness of God’s love for humanity.

This love draws us into union with God. It is what is so beautifully expressed on Holy Thursday and so heartbreakingly snuffed out on Good Friday.

On this day, when we venerate the cross it’s important to remember that Jesus gave his life not only for salvation from sin but also, in the words of theologian Jon Sobrino, for freedom “from any sort of oppression, inner and outer, spiritual and physical, personal and social.” That freedom calls us to act for justice, wherever life is threatened or senselessly lost. We are called to be agents of unity, bearing hope amid our mourning, faithful friends actively upholding the promise of new life Jesus offers us.

For Reflection:

-        -Take time today to reflect on the places of despair and injustice in our world. Who suffers senselessly? How is life being threatened? What would it mean to venerate unifying love in these situations?

-         -They say on Good Friday the world stood still. If you can, try walking outside today. Imagine Jesus is walking with you. What would you want to say to Jesus? What might Jesus be trying to say to you?

- What does it mean for you to bear hope in the shadow of the cross?