Behold the Wood of the Cross: Good Friday Homily

Behold the Wood of the Cross

Homily for Good Friday

by Fr. Tommy Lane

Soon a cross will be brought in procession through the church and three times we will hear, “Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world.” Our sung response will be, “Come, let us adore.” That part of our celebration today goes back to the early celebrations of Good Friday in Jerusalem. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 and built pagan temples on top of the places associated with Jesus’ passion. After the conversion of Emperor Constantine, a search was carried out for the cross of Jesus beneath the layers of construction on top. They found three crosses which they took to be the cross of Jesus and of the other two crucified with him. Accounts tell us they identified Jesus’ cross because sick were healed by touching it and not by touching the other two crosses. We have an account of a Good Friday celebration from the end of the fourth century in Jerusalem during which part of the true cross of Jesus was brought in a silver casket and opened, placed on a table, and everyone passed in front of the relic of Jesus’ cross and venerated it (Pilgrimage diary of Egeria). It really was the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world. By the end of the seventh century, veneration of a relic of the cross was introduced in the papal celebrations of Good Friday in Rome and from there it spread throughout the Church on Good Friday. While we do not have a relic of the cross of Jesus, we will hear, “Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world” uniting us with Christians of the past in Jerusalem, Rome, and other places where relics of Jesus’ cross were venerated on Good Friday and uniting us with Christians all over the world today.

Our veneration of the cross reminds us of the most important moment in the history of the world: Jesus’ death bringing us salvation. Whatever about the authenticity of accounts of discerning the true cross by means of healings by touching it, we do have contemporary accounts from exorcists on the power of the cross. As part of the exorcism ritual, an exorcist holds up a cross over the afflicted person and says, “Behold the cross of the Lord” and commands the demons to leave. That is a key moment and those afflicted report afterwards that it was at that moment the demons began to go. There is a power in the cross of Jesus that I think we may not understand but these accounts help us to grasp the power of Jesus’ cross. All the graces that we receive, everything, come to us through Jesus’ death on the cross. That is what the blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side symbolize, though they especially represent baptism and the Eucharist. Everything comes to us from Jesus’ cross. That is why in the Gospel today, we heard John make a little fuss about seeing the blood and water flow from Jesus’ side (John 19:35). He does not want us to be in any doubt that all the graces we receive really come from Jesus on the cross.

That is because although Jesus died on the cross once, it was for all time. There were daily sacrifices of animals in the Old Covenant, but we could say they were ineffective because they had to keep repeating them every day (Heb 10:1-4). But Jesus sacrificed himself once because his sacrifice is effective for us for all time. The apostles experienced that during the Last Supper when Jesus pulled the benefits of his sacrifice on the cross back in time to Thursday evening during the Last Supper as he said the bread was his body given up for them and the chalice was his blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Now the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross are pulled forward in time and given to us during Mass when at the consecration we hear, “this is my body which will be given up for you. . . This is the chalice of my blood which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” During Mass we are spiritually present at Calvary, as if in a time warp, like the women and John beneath Jesus’ cross.

Contemplating Jesus on the cross brings us back to ourselves as we reflect on Jesus doing this for us, for our salvation. Apart from celebrating together here with everyone today, it would be good spend time every day with Jesus. You can talk to Jesus in your own way, in your own words, thanking him for what he has done for you, asking his help to assist you as you carry your cross and share in his cross through your sufferings. As we unite our sufferings, whether small or big, with Jesus on cross, we do so because on the cross hung the salvation of the world.

This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.

More Homilies for Good Friday

Within Your Wounds, hide me 2022

The Passion of Jesus moves us to Repentance

Blood and Water from Christ's Side giving us Life 2015

The Passion of Jesus shows us up as sinners and heals us

Jesus’ Sufferings Revealed by the Turin Shroud

The Sudarium, the Face-Cloth of Christ

Gethsemane and crucifixion

Jesus took our sins on himself 2018

Largest Known Relic of the True Cross in Santo Toribio, Spain

The Miraculous Crucifix in Limpias