St Charles Church .org
This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on April 9, 2004 (Good Friday)
JOURNALISTS THESE DAYS join the historians and theologians asking questions: "Who killed Jesus?" "Why did Jesus have to die?"
We cannot block out death and violence as unbearable. We cannot deny the crucifixion, removing the corpus from our churches, focusing only on a Risen Jesus. Tonight is our time to confront the Cross of Christ and to ponder the meaning of his passion.
The sword has accompanied the Cross in the crusades and in the conquest of the Americas. The passion plays of medieval Europe are credited with the rise of the anti-Semitism that culminated in the holocaust. In the light of history, we should not be surprised or defensive when we learn that the Cross has been misinterpreted and contradicted. When tonight's Gospel speaks of "The Jews" can others be blamed for generalizing?
The question "Who killed Jesus?" is rendered irrelevant by a closer reading of John. Jesus is presented not as the helpless victim but the champion of truth and the prophet of integrity who would choose the Kingdom before his own life. I will lay down my life and take it up again. His death is his free act; "Into your hands I commend my spirit"
Jesus' death was the culmination of a life of self-giving. He was the first to reach out to the hurts of others in suffering love. He touched the untouchable and became himself the excluded one, the leper. If you would gain your life, you must lose your life. Paul explained that he deemed equality with God not something to be grasped at. He emptied himself taking on the form of a servant, a slave. In Jesus death God identifies with all of the pain of humanity and all victims of violence, be they Israeli, Palestinian, Iraqi or American.
The real question for us is, "How do I identify with the Cross of Christ?"
When we venerate the tree of life let us bring to it our own hurts and sufferings, our grief, the pain that goes with human relationship, the necessary sacrifices we make in our families. As God goes beyond us to a suffering world, let us include in our prayer the suffering of victims, the holocaust, the maimed and killed in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Iraq and Afghanistan. During Lent we fast and abstain to achieve solidarity with millions who hunger without reason in an unequal planet. We recall that Jesus anticipated the meaning of his passion by offering himself as bread for the world.
Let compassionate love be our witness to the Crucified.