Readings: Isa 52:13-53:12; Ps 30:2,6,12-13,15-17,25; Heb 4:14-16, 5:7-9; Jn 18:1-19:42
THEME: ECCE HOMO!
Dearest in Christ, today we celebrate the death that produces life, the death that empowers light over darkness, the death that atones for sins, the death that secures our freedom, the death of Christ, God-Made-Man. This is possible because of the Man Jesus.
ECCE HOMO WHO SECURES OUR FREEDOM (JN 18:8)
When the police sent by the Pharisees and the chief priests came to arrest Jesus, he asked them, “quem quaeritis” (who are you looking for? Jn 18:4)? And they responded: “Jesus, the Nazarene”. Then Jesus said to them “Εγώ εἰμι (Jn. 18:6). Εγώ εἰμι is the same response which God gave to Moses when Moses demanded for God’s name in Ex 3:13-14.
When Jesus repeated the question, they responded again: “Jesus the Nazarene”. At this point, it is clear to Jesus that they know fully well whom they were looking for, and so, he gave the same words of freedom which God gave to Pharoah in Ex 5:1. Sending Moses to Pharaoh, God said to him, “Let my people go….” (Ex 5:1). Hence, Jesus shows himself as that same God who is interested in the freedom of his people.
Jesus was going on a journey that would end in his death, yet he had to negotiate first the freedom of his people. As a matter of fact, Jesus presents the freedom of his disciples as a condition for his self-surrender to those who have come to arrest him. It was as if Jesus was saying: “You need me. I am here for you. But I will go with you on the condition that you must allow these other ones to go”.
At this very moment, Jesus exchanged his freedom with the slavery of humanity. He allowed himself to be arrested, bound, and insulted, on the condition that his disciples go free. He accepted to be condemned, tortured and crucified, on the condition that we go without any condemnation. THIS IS THE MAN JESUS! This is what Good Friday means to us. BEHOLD THE MAN JESUS…HIS CONDEMNATION IS YOUR FREEDOM!
ECCE HOMO WITHOUT WHOM THERE IS COLD (JN 18:18)
In the garden of Kidron, Jesus not only identified with his disciples, but he also secured their freedom. They became free to move without guilt nor condemnation, while Jesus became bound and condemned. But just shortly afterwards, in the courtyard of the High Priest, Peter, whose freedom Jesus secured, wasted no time in denying him.
Just as prophet Isaiah said, Jesus was no more with his beauty and majesty (Isa 53:2), he became a man of sorrows and sufferings (Isa 53:3). Peter could no longer associate himself with such a man, so, he rejected and denied him. But little did Peter know that if not for him, Jesus would not be in that state. Yes, Peter did not know that it was his sins that Jesus bore, and his sorrows Jesus was carrying (cf Isa 53:4), it was because of his transgression that Jesus was wounded, and that Jesus accepted to take upon himself the punishment that belongs to humanity (cf Isa 53:5).
How could Peter associate himself with such a figure? No…that is not human. Men associate themselves with glories, with successful and famous people, and not with what they consider as ‘failure’ or those tagged as ‘rejected’. Instead of going close to stay with his freedom-giver, Peter chose to identify himself with the slaves and the police working in the courtyard of the high priest. he was with Jesus in Kidron, there was no cold because he was under the soothing and warming heat of Jesus’ love. Now, standing far from the source of his warmth, Peter began to feel cold.
Jesus is our warmth without whom there is cold: the cold of sin, the cold of insecurity, the cold of fear and uncertainty, the cold of war and hunger. How many times have we distanced ourselves from Jesus, and instead of seeking for a way to get back to him, we decide to seek for comfort in artificial and material things? The warmth which we seek can only be achieved when we stay close to the cross of Christ, the Cross of our Freedom. BEHOLD THE MAN JESUS…WHEN HE IS ABSENT, COLD BECOMES PRESENT!
ECCE HOMO WHO THIRSTS FOR YOUR SOUL (JN 19:28)
The Scripture said that when Jesus was hanging on the cross, knowing that everything has been accomplished, he said “I am thirsty” (Jn 19:28). The Greek verb διψάω (dipsao) has two meanings: to thirst for water (cf Matt 25:35; 1 Cor 4:11; Jn 4:13; Rom 12:20) and then to long earnestly for something (cf Matt 5:6; Jn 6:35; Jn 7:37). In Jn 19:28, Jesus suffered the two senses of ‘thirst’. As a human, he was thirsting for water, because of the stressful and scourging journey to Golgotha, now mounting upon a tree on a mountain.
As God, Jesus knows that he has conquered the power of darkness. But there is still something remaining which man has to willingly submit to him: man’s soul. Through his Cross, death has been conquered, freedom has been achieved, darkness has been put to flight, but all these are done because of one thing:
Your Soul…My soul. Jesus is the man who owns our souls and who continuously thirsts for them. The best water you can serve Jesus is the water that drops from a soul free of sinful entanglements and free of scourges of hatred and wickedness. How is your soul? Does it produce a soothing and comforting water of righteousness, or does it produce hyssop mixed with vinegar? BEHOLD THE MAN JESUS…HE THIRSTS FOR YOUR SOUL!
ECCE HOMO WHO COMPLETES EVERYTHING AND PAID IT ALL (JN 19:30)
The last word of Jesus on the Cross is τετέλεσται (Tetelesthai; “Consummatum est!). Again, the Greek word teleo (τελέω) from which we get Tetelesthai (Perfect Passive 3rd person singular), apart from meaning “to perfect, to bring to an end, to conclude” (cf Matt 10:23; Lk 2:39; 2 Tim 4:7) also means “to make payment, or to pay or render in full what is due” (cf Matt 17:24; Rom 13:6. The Tetelesthai of Jesus on the Cross connotes the two meanings. On the Cross, Jesus paid in full what we owe due to sin. Someone who owes another, is a slave to the person he owes. But once that payment is completely made, he becomes free of the person.
Christ did not just pay for us, but he paid it in FULL such that we are TOTALLY free from any form of slavery. His payment of our due is for us to live entirely for the One God for whom our soul longs. Only the Man Jesus paid for our freedom with his blood, that we may no longer be live freely for our God. He paid our dues and brought to a conclusion our era of living in fear and in slavery. BEHOLD THE MAN JESUS…HIS BLOOD IS YOUR RANSOM!
ECCE HOMO…WHO CHANGED OUR STORY!
Fr. Nnamah Henry C
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri
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