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‘THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU’
Thoughts for Good Friday
Robin Koning SJ

‘This is not about you.’ That’s a phrase we sometimes hear, challenging the person being addressed to remove themselves from centre stage for at least a moment and focus on someone else. It is a helpful phrase and attitude to keep in mind as we celebrate this day, this Good Friday. This day is not about you. It is not about me.
Of course, in a very real sense, this day is very much about us. To put it bluntly, without us humans, God would not need to die. And so this day, this holy day, is about us as we are present in all the different characters of the Passion story.

This day is about me in Judas—close associate and companion of Jesus, sharing his table, then betraying him to the enemy. This day is about me in the soldiers and temple police come to arrest Jesus in the garden—confused as to the rightness or wrongness of what they are doing, or perhaps hardened beyond caring, just doing their job, taking their orders.

This day is about me in Peter as he cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave—impulsive, gung-ho, but completely misreading the situation: this is not a battle to be fought with swords. This day is about me in Malchus, whose ear was cut off, an innocent bystander, just caught up in the mess of the situation.

This day is also about me in the woman guarding the gate who points the finger at Peter. This day is about me once more in Peter, chosen leader of the church—oblivious to his own weakness until it is too late and he hears the crow of the cock. This day is about me in the corridors of power, in the Sanhedrin, in Caiaphas and Annas—legitimately concerned for the well-being of their religion and the nation, but making this concern an end in itself.

This day is about me in the policeman who slaps Jesus in the face to impress his master, the high-priest. This day is about me in Pilate, unconcerned with the truth, three times proclaiming Jesus innocent, then sentencing him to death—a politician, making the most efficient decision in response to the persistent voice of the majority. This day is about me in the men guarding Jesus, safe in their greater might and numbers, flogging him and insulting him with royal attire and a crown of thorns.

This day is about me in Barabbas, freed while a scapegoat suffers in his place. This day is about me in the crowd, who want their blood sports, who vote Jesus off their island, preferring a bandit to the Lord of Glory. This day is about me in the two criminals crucified with him, guilty, but privileged witnesses to the death of the Innocent One. This day is about me in the soldiers crucifying Jesus, callously dividing his possessions even as he dies.

But in a much deeper sense, this day is not about us, not about me, not about my sins. As much as sin is a horrendous agent in this story, it is not the main player. For this day, of all days, it is Jesus who is the focus, who must be centre stage if this is to be a Holy Week, a Good Friday.

Precisely because I can identify with all the characters in the Passion story, in all their confusion and frailty, their treachery and powerlessness and fear, it is not within me to make this week holy, it is not within me to make this Friday good, no matter how good my intentions, how intense my devotion, how full my response, how sincere my confession, how persistent my prayer, how deep and true my love. It belongs to Jesus alone, the Son of God, living and dying among us, the one who is holiness, the one who is goodness, to make this week holy, to make this Friday good.

John makes this particularly clear in his gospel. While it seems the soldiers have the greater power and are the instigators of his arrest, they fall to the ground at his command. While it seems that Pilate has power to release him or to crucify him, Jesus points out that all Pilate’s power has come from above.

While it seems that all of our human energies have forced the spirit from his failing body, in the end it is he who proclaims, ‘It is finished’, and freely gives us his spirit. While it seems that the soldier piercing his side is having the last laugh, proving Jesus’ death, even in death he pours forth the blood and water which give eternal life.

And so I have a choice. This day I can keep myself at the centre, or I can accept that this crucified God is the centre of human history. I can stay locked up in myself, believing that it is all about me, or I can enter the real world, the world created by God, the world of Jesus, his vision, his word, his life and his death, the world in which my goodness is all God’s gift, and where my worst sin is transformed into life.

This day I can say, as I reverence his cross, simply and by his grace, ‘I love you, Lord’. And that is enough, for today is all about him.

‘THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU’ Thoughts for Good Friday Robin Koning SJ

‘THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU’
Thoughts for Good Friday
Robin Koning SJ