Good Friday Homily, the Passion of Jesus moves us to repentance

The Passion of Jesus moves us to repentance

Homily for Good Friday

by Fr. Tommy Lane

I think it would be fair to say that we cannot even imagine how much Jesus suffered for us. One help at understanding Jesus’ Passion and what he did for us is the movie The Passion of the Christ. One detail from that movie that never appears on screen helps us to begin to imagine what Jesus did for us. During the scourging at the pillar, a shield hidden from the camera protected Jim Caviezel’s back who plays Jesus in the film. But during one blow the Roman soldier missed the shield. The pain was so intense that Jim Caviezel was not able to cry out; he lost his breath. The shock was so much that he cut his hands on the chains holding him to the pillar. Afterwards, the make-up artist modeled the other wounds on his back on that real wound.

The first reading today (Isa 52:13-53:12), which is a most beautiful prophecy from Isaiah, describes Jesus’ Passion. It highlights Jesus’ sufferings and that it was for our sins Jesus suffered.

The crowds were appalled on seeing him
So disfigured did he look
That he seemed no longer human...

Ours were the sufferings he bore,
Ours the sorrows he carried...

He was pierced through for our faults,
Crushed for our sins.
On him lies a punishment that brings us peace
And through his wounds we are healed...

For our faults he was struck down in death...

By his sufferings shall my servant justify many,
Taking their faults on himself. (Isa 52:14; 53:4-5, 8, 11)

How do we react to Jesus’ suffering for us? We are moved to sorrow for our sins which nailed Jesus to the cross. We are moved to repent of our sins, to turn our backs on sin and walk from the cross as new people. Again, details from the movie The Passion of the Christ that do not make it onto the screen show this. Many conversions took place among the actors during the filming of the movie. After they had finished shooting the film, they went to a studio to do the voice-overs. When some of the Roman soldiers had to say their lines, they were too upset to say anything. A deep meditation on Jesus’ passion moves us, moves to leave sin behind, because as we meditate on Jesus’ passion we see the effects of our sins.

Many passages in the Scriptures remind us that Jesus’ death challenges us to leave sin behind.

For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

He was bearing our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to our sins and live for uprightness; through his bruises you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

Therefore, as Paul would say, we crucify sin in us so that Jesus will live in us.

I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. (Gal 2:19)

All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified self with all its passion and its desires. (Gal 5:24)

Meditating on Jesus’ Passion moves to repent of our sins, to turn our backs on sin and walk from the cross as new people.

Ours were the sufferings he bore,
Ours the sorrows he carried...

He was pierced through for our faults,
Crushed for our sins.
On him lies a punishment that brings us peace
And through his wounds we are healed (Isa 53:4-5)

This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.

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