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| Crucifixion of Jesus by Marco Palmezzano (Uffizi, Florence), painting c. 1490 |
The 8th graders who in level 2 of the parish confirmation program are given the opportunity to write reflections on the stations of the cross. Their statements are incorporated into a parish celebration of the Stations of the Cross at noon on Good Friday. After the last station I offered this reflection the confirmation candidates and parishioners.
In our prayer, today we have not only recounted a story but
through the reflections you offered, we engaged ourselves in that story. In doing so, each of you attempted to
experience Jesus in a way that is real or more tangible to you. Through this meditation of the Stations of
the Cross, on this Good Friday afternoon we have had an opportunity to know the
pain of our Lord in a profound way. But
some of us may ask, “What is the point?
We have our own pain and none of it seems to make any sense.” So, as a way of bringing this experience to a
close and in an attempt to “make sense,” of it for you, I offer you to points
to take with you. First, Failure is not
only an option, it’s the only option.
Second, the only cross we are asked to bear is our own – and Jesus
carries it with us.
We have heard the phrase, “Failure is not an option.” This statement originated as a line from the
movie, Apollo 13 and it was uttered by the character of the flight director,
whose responsibility it was to bring the astronauts of the disabled spacecraft
home safely. The truth is the real
person, in the actual situation, never said those words. They are the words of a Hollywood
scriptwriter. The reality was that
failure had already happened. That
particular mission to the moon failed because an explosion had disabled the
ship. Because of that failure, however, the
minds of many had to come together to figure out a way to get these men home
and through the failure they learned what they never could have and achieved
something they never would have believed possible.
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| Michelangelo's Pieta St. Peter's Basilica, The Vatican |
From the human perspective, Jesus’ mission appears to be
failure. After being followed by throngs
of people he was abandoned to die alone on a cross. Two of his apostles fail him in the acts of
betrayal and denial. He is mocked,
tortured and killed, what a failure. We
stand here today calling this Good Friday because we know that the
mission does not fail. We know about the
resurrection and therefore we can see and anticipate the success. But this reality was not yet known on that
Friday afternoon. The religious leaders,
the Romans, the crowds and Jesus disciples only saw failure. It was only after the resurrection that the
apostles, other disciples and future believers came to understand how failure
was in fact the only option. Jesus had
to be abandoned, betrayed, denied, tortured and killed. The worse had to happen so that the greatness
of God could truly be known. St. Paul says
that death has no power over us. We only
know this to be true because the failure of death happened first.
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| Holy Family School's 7th Grade Living Stations 2017 |
In our lives, we have daily reminders of failures; academically,
athletically, artistically and socially.
We can even perceive our bodies as failures. People around us might readily point out our
flaws and some never seem to let us forget them. We ask ourselves, “Why did I have to
fail? Why can’t I just get it right?” The answer is failure is the only
option. We learn from our failures, and
learn very little from that which we accidentally get right. So too we learn from our sin, the very sins
that led Jesus to the cross. Our sins
and our failures are the gateway to God’s mercy. Through them we come to know the power of
Jesus’ love and mercy for each of us.
It’s hard to know this amid failure however and so we must trust
in what we cannot see. We trust in the
wisdom of others and we trust in the wisdom of faith. Let me share with you a post resurrection
story that illustrates this point. In
one of his appearances after the resurrection, Jesus meets his apostles on the
sea shore. They have breakfast together
and after they finish eating Jesus says to Peter
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep. Jn 21:15-19
Do you see what was happening here? Peter who denied Jesus three times is given
an opportunity to express his love for Jesus three times. This must have been such an awesome revelation
for Peter. How much stronger and apostle
and leader he was because he failed first.
The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus teaches us that failure is
the only option.
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| Confirmation Candidates and Parishioners venerate the Cross following Stations of the Cross on Good Friday |
Lastly, I offer you this.
Before they knew what would eventually happen, Jesus told his apostles
that if they wished to follow him they must take up their cross daily. He did not tell them to carry his cross, nor
did he tell them to carry the cross of others.
Jesus does not need for us or want us to suffer needlessly. He does not expect us to take on the burdens
of the world. He asks us to make the
sacrifices of our lives, to accept the burdens of love and bearing with our own
personal failures. He also tells us that
our burden is light because he is carrying it with us. While it is true that the Lord may use us, to
be his hands and feet to help another person, he does not command us or want us
to assume the burdens of other on ourselves.
Many years ago, I heard a mother tell her son she wished she could take away
a pain he was experiencing, and he told her he didn’t want her to, because the
pain was his and he needed to be healed from it, not have another take it from
him. In dying to the cross, Jesus alone
takes on the burdens of the world, we who follow are to accept our burdens and
trust that he will transform them. Any
even though he may call upon us to be his presence for another, we do not have
the capacity, the ability or the right to make another’s pain
our own. That is for Jesus.
As we conclude I invite you to venerate the cross, to come
forward and in gesture show that because of the suffering and death of Jesus we
know that we can take up our cross daily because we believe he bears it with us
and we know that failure is the only option that will lead us to new life.
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| Pilgrims touch the stone beneath the altar at Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem |
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