For most of us who have grown up and lived in Victoria all our lives, Good Friday is marked by the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal and its anthem: “Won’t you give so that they may grow.”
This very local community collective cause captures for we who live in Victoria the timeless, global essence of Good Friday.
Jesus gave his life on the cross so that we may live. We live the spirit of Good Friday when our self-sacrifice also helps another to live better, or simply live.
I have always loved the powerful image of Valesquez’s painting of The Crucifixion. Jesus’ lifeless body on the cross literally glows.Although dead upon the cross, there is a serenity yet power in Jesus that the surrounding darkness cannot overcome. The contradiction that Jesus’ horrific death on the cross could be so beautiful. That in the midst of the darkness, alight shines.
The painting captures the fundamental contradiction of Christianity. We gain life, light and happiness not by avoiding the sufferings and crosses of daily life, but if fact by – as Jesus did – embracing them.
The great Australian singer songwriter Paul Kelly expressed it succinctly in his song Bradman when he wrote:
“They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn
And in the hour of greatest slaughter the great avenger is being born.”
Traditionally, Australia shuts down on Good Friday, and we have an opportunity to reflect on this great Christian insight. But this year it seems we are actually living Good Friday. The whole world community is walking with Jesus along the road to Calvary. Church doors closed and the cancelling of the traditional 3.00 pm ceremony, replaced by the lived reality we all share this year.
May we take this opportunity to discover the light within the darkness, and believe that new life will be ours not by avoiding the situation that confronts us, but by – as Jesus did – embracing it.
