March 29: Jesus, the Savior of the World

Good Friday

Our hearts sink with sadness as we recall the Death of our Lord on this day. The Church invites us to fast and pray as we seek to unite our hearts with His. We read in today's Gospel how our Lord humbled himself and was treated like a criminal, on the way to Calvary.

Today's Gospel opens up with our Lord in the Kedron Valley, where he used to meet with the disciples. He went to a garden, the very same place where Adam and Eve fell into sin thousands of years before. But this time, Jesus would not fall into sin but rather be the sacrifice and give His life up for us, so the devil would not be victorious.

Jesus was met with the cohort and guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees with the desire to embrace Christ like a criminal, with torches and weapons. The Pharisees were determined for Jesus to be "caught," and yet, they still didn't know Him; they didn't know His teachings, for His ways are not a way of violence and hatred but instead sacrifice and love.

Jesus proclaims to the crowd, "Who are you looking for?" and they respond, "Jesus the Nazarene." He responded, "I am He." He is the king of kings, the Lord of Lords, and the great Savior of the universe, but to the Pharisees, He was just Jesus the Nazarene. If Jesus had freely destroyed his enemies that night, he would not have solved the problem He came to this world to fix: sin. Instead, Jesus is the King of Love and will conquer hearts through love and not force or violence.

Jesus continues to lead the conversation and takes the authority of this moment; He says, "Who are you looking for?" They reply again, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus replies, "I told you, I am He." for the third time, He affirms His identity and hands himself over freely, asking for His disciples to be let go. With that, the passion of our Lord continues. Jesus is showing us the way to heaven through humility and following the will of God.

Jesus died for each of us. He died to open the gates of heaven to us on Easter Sunday, but we need to choose to be a friend of Christ. We need to open our hearts to the Lord so that He can change them and remove anything that resides within that prevents us from loving others. Jesus desires to forgive us, but we must go to Him for that forgiveness.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the ultimate sacrifice that you made on the cross to conquer sin and death and win for us eternal salvation.

By Emily Jaminet