Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

 

Passion of Christ XVII

 

Good Friday

 

Luke 22:61–62 (NJB): and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s words when he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will have disowned me three times.’ 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

 Today we have celebrated the Lord’s Passion and recollect the memory of Jesus’s death on Cross in Calvary. There are certain passages of Mat 27: 1-56. Here in this passage Pilate is questioning Jesus and asking him, is he the King of Jews. But he did not say anything to Pilate. There was a Roman custom to release a culprit release from the jail on the day of Passover. Pilate’s wife asked him not to punish Jesus as he is a just a man. He asked the chief priests and Jews, whether they like to release Jesus or not, but all of them said in one voice to crucify Jesus and release Barabbas a bandit and culprit. Then Pilate handed over him to Jews and chief priests to crucify him. They crucified Jesus along with two thieves one left and one right. Jesus cried in a loud voice ‘Eli Eli, Lama Sabakthani, my Lord, my God, why have you forsaken me. The onlookers were cursing Jesus and mocked him and said, ‘if you are Christ, save yourselves and come down from they cross. You are the King, why you cannot save yourselves. They said, ‘this way we can believe in him.’

 

  We can see some important events mentioned in the Gospel of Luke in chapter of Lk 23: 1-56. Here Luke the evangelist mentioned about the two thieves. One of the thieves is rebuking Jesus but the other is justifying that Jesus should not died in the Cross, but he is innocent. Luke 23:39–43 (NJB): One of the criminals hanging there abused him: ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.’ 40 But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did, 41 but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 He answered him, ‘In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ While on the cross Jesus promised heaven for the good thief. He is first and foremost person Jesus himself taken him into heaven. What a love Jesus has for his flocks. The other thief mocked Jesus and said to him save yourselves and save us as well. But the good thief rebuked and ‘in our case we deserve the punishment and this man did nothing wrong’

 

In the Gospel of John, John 19: 1-42 the Apostle says about the passion and death of our Lord. In this one special event is mentioned by him is about the last three verses he said on the Cross. Some of the verses Jesus is saying to his mother and other verse to his beloved disciple John John 19:25–27 (NJB): Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ 27 Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. Another word he said is I am thirst John 19:28 (NJB): so that the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty. Another word Jesus said it is fulfilled, John 19:30 (NJB): After Jesus had taken the wine he said, ‘It is fulfilled’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit. 

 

At last, he took his last breath and gave his soul into the hands of his Father in Heaven. There was earthquake, the earth was trembled, and many saints’ graves were opened and many dead people were risen from the graves, many were witnessed this events. Many women were witness all these mysterious events with great agony in their hearts and cried bitterly. They were Mary mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jacob and Joseph, and the mother of James and John.

 

Jn 19: 28-30(NJB)After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed and, so that the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty.   29 A jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. 30 After Jesus had taken the wine he said, ‘It is fulfilled’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit. 

 

 

Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

Holy Week

MaundyThursday

Passion of Christ Part XIV

Let us awake and prudent to meet our Lord in the watches of the night

On 17th April 2025

 

   Even the disciples couldn't grasp the mystery of Jesus' death on the Cross and resurrection.  Peter started rebuking him. Jesus was telling them that he had to suffer and die on the crucifixion, and that on the third day he would be raised from the dead. Even St Peter was perplexed at first by the mystery of dying on the cross. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, the Father revealed to us that He is the Son of God and that we should believe in him. Jesus. We are to see things from a spiritual perspective rather than mere human being. Jesus is very worried about us, and only he knows the depth of the salvation God has prepared for us. Mt 16:21-23 From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. 22 Then, taking him aside ‘Heaven preserves you, Lord,’ he said, ‘this must not happen to you.’ 23 But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do.’ The apostles and some of the disciples were accompanied him throughout his mission. Jesus is asking us how well we know him. Jesus mentioned his sacrifice multiple times in order for them to understand the mystery of salvation, as planned by the Heavenly Father. Before Jesus passion he has fulfilled his mission, to preach the Good News to the Israelites and other nations, but he will continue this mission to all the nations through the Apostles and disciples.

 

John 13:4–8 (NJB): and he got up from table, removed his outer garments and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; 5 he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7 Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8 ‘Never!’ said Peter. ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus became the humblest a servant by performing the lowliest service a servant can perform washing his master's feet at his house, where he was assigned to serve. He gave this example to his disciples and to all of us as a reminder of how a leader or servant should treat others.

 

    Luke 22:19–20 (NJB): Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ 20 He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you. Jesus established the New Covenant by offering his own blood in the form of wine to the Apostles. The Eucharist was instituted during the Passover Ceremony. But Jesus is obviously mentioned here because He shared His Body and Blood with us in order to create or qualify us for His eternal presence in this world. Receiving Holy Communion makes us one flesh and blood with Him for eternity. How wonderful it is, as Centurion remarked, as we pray and recite in the Holy Mass "Lord, I am not worthy you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

 

   St Augustine said in a reflection on Treatise on Gospel of John: This is surely what we read in the Proverbs of Solomon: If you sit down to eat at the table of a ruler, observe carefully what is set before you; then stretch out your hand, knowing that you must provide the same kind of meal yourself. What is this ruler’s table if not the one at which we receive the Body and Blood of him who laid down his life for us? What does it mean to sit at this table if not to approach it with humility? What does it mean to observe carefully what is set before you if not to meditate devoutly on so great a gift? What does it mean to stretch out one’s hand, knowing that one must provide the same kind of meal oneself, if not what I have just said: as Christ laid down his life for us, so we in our turn ought to lay down our lives for our brothers? This is what the apostle Paul said: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps. 

 

Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

Holy Week

Passion of Christ Part VIII

Jesus was never turned away from the insults and spitting

On 16th April 2025

 

  Jesus was rejected by everyone, and he thought he had been removed from the Father's presence. Jesus' passion began at birth, and he thought he was finished, with no more power to bear all of his afflictions alone. The adversary floods around him all day and night, stabbing him with whips and lances to give him the maximum punishment on earth than anybody else in this world. Psalm 88:14–18 (NJB): 14 why, Yahweh, do you rebuff me, turn your face away from me? 15 Wretched and close to death since childhood, I have borne your terrors—I am finished! 16 Your anger has overwhelmed me, your terrors annihilated me. 17 They flood around me all day long, close in on me all at once. 18 You have deprived me of friends and companions, and all that I know is the dark. Even when Jesus was born, he was face death as per the decree of King Herod. The infants and new-born children were mascaraed.  Mt 2: 16-18 ‘Herod was furious on realizing that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men.’  Jesus was taken away from all his friends and companions. A great passion and death were very inevitable for him. He felt the darkness everywhere as the heavenly light has taken away from him as a fulfilment of the will of Heavenly Father.  Psalm 38:9–10 (NJB): Lord, all my longing is known to you, my sighing no secret from you, 10 my heart is throbbing, my strength has failed, the light has gone out of my eyes.

 

  Isaiah 50:4–10 (NJB): Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple’s tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple. 5 Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not turned away. 6 I have offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I have not turned my face away from insult and spitting. Jesus inherited the nature, image, and resemblance of the Heavenly Father, as well as all the apparent and invisible virtues. Blood ran down Jesus's face after the soldiers hit him and pulled his beard. Despite all the penalties and persecutions, he never turned aside. Jesus never avoided the Heavenly Father's presence.

 

Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

 

Passion of Christ Part VII

 

‘The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

 

While we meditate these verses from Psalm 88, here Psalmist is explaining how Jesus was left alone in the dungeon like among the dead. Psalm 88:5–9 (NJB): left alone among the dead, like the slaughtered lying in the grave, whom you remember no more, cut off as they are from your protection. 6 You have plunged me to the bottom of the grave, in the darkness, in the depths; 7 weighted down by your anger, kept low by your waves. Pause 8 You have deprived me of my friends, made me repulsive to them, imprisoned, with no escape; 9 my eyes are worn out with suffering. I call to you, Yahweh, all day, I stretch out my hands to you. Jesus was placed in this pit like an animal for slaughtering without any protection. All his friends and relatives abandoned him, as if they would no longer be with him. He felt like he was in a graveyard where the dead are buried. Jesus sensed that Heavenly Father had abandoned him to become a sacrificial victim. Jesus felt he had been buried in the grave forever, with no chance of ever living again. But Jesus trusted His Father and was obedient to Him to do His will.

 

 

   Ps 49:7-9(NJB)But no one can ever redeem himself for pay his own ransom to God,8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be 9 that he will live on forever and avoid the sight of the abyss. What a magnificent sacrifice he made by offering his own life as the greatest sacrifice on earth and in heaven. Another method Christ teaches us how to be leaders is to serve others. When aspiring to be a leader, we must first serve those to whom we belong. Matthew 20:26–28 (NJB): Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, 28 just as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ I was so moved by hearing this Antiphon, Communion Antiphon for that day on 28th Feb 2023: ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:18–19 (NJB): Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised up again.’ Jesus was ready to be sacrificed for all human beings on earth for the present, past and future generation by his unconditional love for generations after generations. Here in these verses Jesus is predicting his death and the resurrection after three days.

Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

 

Holy Week

Passion of Christ Part VI

On 14th April 2025

 

Lord, strengthen us by your Spirit to be part of Your mission to share and spread the Gospel to entire world.

 

 

   Matthew 16:21 (NJB): From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. He then made it clear to his apostles and disciples during his career that he would suffer in order to save the world. To his apostles, whom he regards as brothers and friends, he never withholds anything. Jesus consistently stated that his suffering and death on the Cross were sacrifices done in accordance with the Heavenly Father's will. He declared that he would be raised from the dead on the third day in order to permanently vanquish Satan and the death of souls. We can thus put our faith in Christ Jesus, who will save us and provide us everlasting eternal life. Matthew 16:22–23 (NJB): Peter started to rebuke him. ‘Heaven preserve you, Lord,’ he said, ‘this must not happen to you.’ 23 But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do.’ When Jesus revealed the sufferings and death on the cross to the apostles, Peter was not ready to accept the reality of this mystery. Peter said, this should not happen to Jesus. Jesus rebuked Peter and called him Satan, because Peter was not thinking in Godly perspective but with the human standard. The sufferings, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus has given us hope of life, and the faith in him made us to participate in his sufferings. Same way our sacrifices for the kingdom of God is essential to carry out the mission which Jesus has endured to us. Let us pray, Lord, strengthen us by Your Spirit to be part of Your mission to share and spread the Gospel to entire world.

 

Jesus’s Passion in Holy Week

On 13th April 2025

Passion of Christ Part V

 

We all will suffer death in our body, but God will raise us on the Last Day.

 

  The Psalm 88, the church is identified them as anticipating the kind of suffering that Christ endured. There are other two Psalms(22, 69) also mentioned about the sufferings and afflictions Jesus to be faced before his death on the Cross. Psalm 88:1–4 (NJB): Yahweh, God of my salvation, when I cry out to you in the night, 2 may my prayer reach your presence, hear my cry for help. 3 For I am filled with misery, my life is on the brink of Sheol; 4 already numbered among those who sink into oblivion, I am as one bereft of strength. This Psalm is very closely related to Jesus' punishment of being thrown into the dungeon, as ordered by High Priest Khaiaphas. While we visited the Holy Land we have read this chapter when we gone down to the dungeon and many were crying while one lector red this chapter as per the instruction from the priest(Fr Eugene) That is why pilgrims visiting the Holy Land travel to this deep well to experience Jesus' agony. Many visitors to the dungeon read this Psalm and ponder on Christ's sufferings. We might ponder on the aforementioned verses and reflect on them. Jesus cried out to his Father for rescue while he lay in this hole for one day and one night. He lost all of his power since he was alone in the dungeon, which was full of darkness. There was no one to help him, and no light could penetrate the dungeon. We know how much he suffered before his death on the Cross.