Reflection on Good Friday
Nowhere in the bible we can discover that Jesus calls his mother, ‘mother’. Not even He addresses her with the beautiful name, ‘Mary’! Jesus names her as ‘Woman’. Certainly Jesus does not teach us disrespect by calling our own father, “Yo, Man!” Rather, He recognizes who Mary really is, her true and deepest identity. On the cross, Jesus reveals the name of Mary, ‘the Woman’, because she is the new Eve. While the old Eve, the first woman, failed and fell, Mary, the new Eve, remains faithful even until the most painful end.
Who could bear to see her only son, the fruit of her womb, being unjustly condemned as a criminal, tortured like an animal and humiliatingly crucified before all eyes? Yet, Mary did not run away, she did not weep, she did not kneel, but she stood firmly under the cross (John 19:25)! The ‘Yes’ Mary said to God in the Annunciation, is the same ‘Yes’, she professed to her Son, under the cross. She remained faithful, while the rest of humanity fail and fall.
Look at Jesus’ male disciples! Practically almost all male disciples ran for their lives. Peter, the boldest among all, denied his Master thrice. Judas cheaply sold Him at the price of a slave. Others were scattered and nowhere to be found. The community of disciples that Jesus painstakingly gathered was eventually disbanded under the cross. However, not every body left Jesus hanging on the cross. Mary stood and looked at her Son. It was under the cross, the greatest sufferings the world could inflict, Jesus saw who the true disciples were, the one who followed Him till the end. Remarkably, she was the first disciple of him and in fact, the last, Mary the Woman.
Like Mary, our authentic identity and characters reveal themselves under the cross, under the great sufferings, and sometimes on the face of death. The genuine disciples of Jesus can only be found under the cross. And only through the cross, like Mary, we are admitted into the household of God, the community of believers: “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27).
Do we say a little prayer and sign of the cross in public for simple blessing we receive? Do we go to the Church every Sunday despite boredom and laziness? Just in case our boyfriend runs with another woman, are we able to forgive them, or we rather look for the payback time? In dire need of money, are we going to remain honest, or we start seeking opportunity for corruption?
Under the cross, in the face of disintegrating old group and hopeless death of its founder, the embryo of a new community springs up. It is the community of believers who alike Mary, recognize God even in most battered humanity of Jesus; believers that hold fast despite no good future in their gaze; believers who see the seed of resurrection in the disfigured realities of life. There is no resurrection without the cross. The genuine disciples of Jesus can only be found under the cross. Only through Christ’s cross, we can say that we are truly Christians.
Nowhere in the bible we can discover that Jesus calls his mother, ‘mother’. Not even He addresses her with the beautiful name, ‘Mary’! Jesus names her as ‘Woman’. Certainly Jesus does not teach us disrespect by calling our own father, “Yo, Man!” Rather, He recognizes who Mary really is, her true and deepest identity. On the cross, Jesus reveals the name of Mary, ‘the Woman’, because she is the new Eve. While the old Eve, the first woman, failed and fell, Mary, the new Eve, remains faithful even until the most painful end.
Who could bear to see her only son, the fruit of her womb, being unjustly condemned as a criminal, tortured like an animal and humiliatingly crucified before all eyes? Yet, Mary did not run away, she did not weep, she did not kneel, but she stood firmly under the cross (John 19:25)! The ‘Yes’ Mary said to God in the Annunciation, is the same ‘Yes’, she professed to her Son, under the cross. She remained faithful, while the rest of humanity fail and fall.
Look at Jesus’ male disciples! Practically almost all male disciples ran for their lives. Peter, the boldest among all, denied his Master thrice. Judas cheaply sold Him at the price of a slave. Others were scattered and nowhere to be found. The community of disciples that Jesus painstakingly gathered was eventually disbanded under the cross. However, not every body left Jesus hanging on the cross. Mary stood and looked at her Son. It was under the cross, the greatest sufferings the world could inflict, Jesus saw who the true disciples were, the one who followed Him till the end. Remarkably, she was the first disciple of him and in fact, the last, Mary the Woman.
Like Mary, our authentic identity and characters reveal themselves under the cross, under the great sufferings, and sometimes on the face of death. The genuine disciples of Jesus can only be found under the cross. And only through the cross, like Mary, we are admitted into the household of God, the community of believers: “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27).
Do we say a little prayer and sign of the cross in public for simple blessing we receive? Do we go to the Church every Sunday despite boredom and laziness? Just in case our boyfriend runs with another woman, are we able to forgive them, or we rather look for the payback time? In dire need of money, are we going to remain honest, or we start seeking opportunity for corruption?
Under the cross, in the face of disintegrating old group and hopeless death of its founder, the embryo of a new community springs up. It is the community of believers who alike Mary, recognize God even in most battered humanity of Jesus; believers that hold fast despite no good future in their gaze; believers who see the seed of resurrection in the disfigured realities of life. There is no resurrection without the cross. The genuine disciples of Jesus can only be found under the cross. Only through Christ’s cross, we can say that we are truly Christians.
Bro. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
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