Judas consummated his betrayal and Jesus is apprehended. This happens after the Lord had accepted in Gethsemane the suffering from the hands of his Father and had given his ‘yes’ to all that was before him.
A YES that had to go through anguish and agony; a YES, after having asked his Father that, if possible, that cup might pass without his having to drink it (cf. Mt 26:39-44); a YES that expresses unconditional surrender to the Father; a YES out of love for us men.
“‘It is fulfilled’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit” (Jn 19:30).
Today, together with the Heavenly Father and all the faithful, our gaze rests on the Cross on which the beloved Son hung. There, on the Cross erected on Calvary, the power of evil was broken by the manifest love of God. It is the Father who grants us true life through the sacrifice of His Son; a new life, which no longer has to hide from God because of its faults. “He was bearing our sins in his own body on the cross” (1 Pet 2:24), and we have been set free. Today is the great Friday, Good Friday! God, the Good One, has done all things well (cf. Mk 7:37).
“Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it” (Mk 14:36).
These words of Jesus have deeply marked all those who have accepted suffering at the hands of the Father. It is not easy to recognise His fatherly love in them, even less so when it is a question of suffering that we have not brought on ourselves through our own fault. A person can find himself in deep darkness and only naked faith helps him to get through that situation: faith in the Father’s love.
“During supper, Jesus got up from table, removed His outer garments and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.” (Jn 13:4-5)
What great love is manifested to us on this day, what extraordinary gestures do we encounter! The Lord of heaven and earth washes the feet of His disciples, thus revealing to them more deeply what their discipleship is all about: it is about service. God Himself, in His infinite love, serves man; and He calls us to live in this same service.
Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you prepared to give me if I hand Him over to you?’ They paid him thirty silver pieces. (Mt 26:14-15)
The betrayal of God in exchange for unjust money… How often this story is repeated! How often people sell themselves at the price of money, of honour, of disorderly pleasures, of power!
How incomparably does the love of God shine forth on the cross:
The love of the Father, who sent His Son to redeem us; the love of the Son for His Father and for us men; the love of the Holy Spirit, who reveals this event of love more deeply to us and makes it present in us.
“In all truth I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” (Jn 13:21b)
Betrayal! Here the most terrible depths of the human heart are revealed. Betraying a friend, betraying the Master and Lord, betraying love…
“But Yahweh God called to the man. ‘Where are you?’ he asked” (Gen 3:9).
These are the first words that the Father addresses to man after he has fallen into sin. He expresses all his love in how he seeks us.
“Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair.” (Jn 12:3)
What a tender gesture on Mary’s part this Gospel passage tells us! It is a tenderness that corresponds to the being of a woman, and which reflects something of her beauty and her capacity for self-giving. Mary has given her whole heart to Jesus, and what a consolation that loving soul must have been for Him in the midst of so much hostility. Something similar will happen to Him on the Way of the Cross, when Veronica wipes His face.
“Lift up your eyes with me to the Father from the cross of this world, which causes so much suffering” (Interior Word).
