The Resurrection of the Lord
Pardon me, for my Easter homily is going to begin with Good Friday. After all, if there was no Good Friday, there would be no Easter Sunday. I would like to present three things about Good Friday, which if we think a little differently, can also help us to reflect upon the Easter event a little more deeply. None of these changes the fact the Jesus is raised from the dead. Perhaps, it will enrich our understanding of the resurrection of Jesus.
Empathetic Identification
The first thing about Good Friday that I would like us to think about is the reason for the death of Jesus. The most common view based is that Jesus paid the price for our sins. As Isaiah says, “He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed” (Is 53:5). This view is called the atonement view, or that Jesus became the atonement for our sin.
Jerome Miller, a professor of theology at the Salisbury University in Maryland, offers another perspective. He says that the problem with the traditional view of atonement is that the human being, who is already the victim of sin, becomes a victim once again in the person of Jesus. In other words, in Jesus who became human, humanity is victimized again. This is contrary to God’s righteousness, which is tempered with mercy. Miller’s perspective also allows to not think God as a God who can be only pleased by the shedding of blood.
Alternatively, Miller suggests that we see the cross as “empathetic identification.” In this view, the focus of God’s redemptive action on the cross is the violated human being as the violated human being. Through the cross God empathetically identifies with us who are the victims of sin. In the crucified Christ we are encouraged to see a God who knows our suffering as no one else does.
The biggest difference in this view from the atonement view is that Christ is not some much a surrogate, but a victim of suffering, like all of us. By Christ’s suffering and death, he becomes the one who rescued us from death rather than pray the price for it.
This has practical implications for us. If we understand the death of Jesus as empathetic identification, then Easter calls us to do two things: First, that we recognize Jesus, who is with us, as our God. When life becomes a burden, we must remember that the risen Christ has been there before. Second, the triumph of Easter calls us to refrain us from making other people victims of our triumph. At Easter, like Christ, we identify with those who are suffering and bring them hope and life. Be it an addict, a person battling terminal illness, a victim of domestic abuse, a victim of a bad marriage, a person stuck in the cycle of poverty, an uprooted, or homeless person — Easter calls us to do what Christ did for us.
The Cross: Transforming Evil into Good
The second view comes from a great theologian, Bernard Lonergan. He says: “This is why the Son of God became man, suffered, died, and was raised again; because divine wisdom has ordained and divine goodness has willed, not to do away with the evils of the human race through power, but to convert those evils into a supreme good according to the just and mysterious Law of the Cross.
Two examples from the cross would help us understand this – first Christ’s forgiveness from the Cross, and second the episode with the repentant thief. First, even when confronted by the most violent death, Christ does not offer violence in return but rather forgiveness and an opportunity for reconciliation. By this Christ attempts to convert his violent murderers away from violence toward peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. Second, he offers the Kingdom of God to the repentant thief. Here is the ultimate hope for the sinner – the doors of Paradise are never shut for anyone permanently. In this view again, Christ is not so much a surrogate but an expression of the love of God that converts all evil into good. The cross should be enough to turn all of humanity to God.
This has practical implication for us. If the cross of Christ is understood as God’s attempt to transform evil into supreme good, then Easter become the catalyst event by which Christians transform evil into good. We do this in the footsteps of Christ, who did not repay evil with evil, but rather, conquered it with supreme good. The violence and wars that rage in the world today tells us that the world still lives by “eye-for-any-eye” and “tooth-for-a-tooth” principle. How often are you and I tempted to repay evil with more evil! How often you and I find it difficult to believe that good will ultimately prevail? If we believe in Easter, then Easter is call to each one of us to transform evil into good like Jesus did.
Easter: Allowing God to be God
In the Christian story, Judas, along with Pilate and the chief priests are the ultimate villains. Former enemies got together to conspire against Jesus. But Judas get the worst wrap because he was a friend-turned-betrayer. Christians deal with the betrayal in many ways. The most empathetic view is that Judas was merely a player in the ultimate Easter triumph.
Scripture scholars teach us that there is an alternative way to look at Judas action. They tell us that Judas’s intention was not to betray Jesus, but rather, his real failure was to understand God’s plan. Judas did not understand the concept of a “suffering messiah.” He continued to hope beyond hope that Jesus was the “Messiah” who would overthrow the Romans and bring liberation to God’s people. By betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, Judas was trying to hasten Jesus toward a struggle for liberation. Judas did not expect Jesus to surrender to the Romans in the garden of Gethsemane. He expected Jesus to fight back and thus begin the fight for independence. To his shock, Jesus did not retaliate. God had a very different plan. Through Jesus, God’s plan was to liberate not just the Israelites but all humanity. His plan was not to win the world through violence but through love. when Judas saw that his plan failed, he could not handle his actions. Neither could he see that God would bringing something good out of his impatience and limited vision. Judas killed himself.
If this view has any credence, it has serious practical implications for us. So often we fail to look at things from God’s perspective. So often, impatience leads us to take things into our hands. To not be in control is such a hard reality for us. Easter teaches us that we must allow God to be God. Easter teaches us to trust God to lead us rather than make attempts to lead God.
This Mass is a celebration of everything Easter stands for. Here, Christ identifying himself with us, gives us his body and blood. Here, in his self-offering, evil is transformed into the supreme good. Here, God saves us in a way that we least expect. This is Easter. If we are an Easter people, then, we are sent forth with Christ’s life within us. Let us not just celebrate Easter - let us “be” Easter!
- Fr. Satish Joseph