Good Friday   

Gospel – John 18: 1–19:42

Nails!

SRB Church

There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy’s father wanted to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that, every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence. On the first day of this lesson, the little boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. He was really mad!

Over the course of the next few weeks, the little boy began to control his temper, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence dramatically decreased. It wasn’t long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Then, the day finally came when the little boy didn’t lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he couldn’t wait to tell his father. Pleased, his father suggested that he now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper. Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

Very gently, the father took his son by the hand and led him back to the fence. “You have done very well, my son,” he smiled, “but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.” The little boy listened carefully as his father continued to speak.

“When you say things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you’re sorry, the wounds will still be there.”

Today is a day full of suffering and death, agony and pain, scourging, crowning with thorns and a horrible death by crucifixion. His hands and feet pinned to the cross with nails, and yet we call today GOOD!  We commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ at Golgotha, observed on the Friday before Easter. It is considered "good" because it marks the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus to atone for humanity's sins, providing salvation and reconciliation with God.  Good Friday stands at the heart of our Christian faith. It is the day when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered and died on the cross for the salvation of humanity.

For Catholics, Good Friday is a solemn and sacred day, marking the culmination of Jesus’ Passion. It is a time of deep reflection, prayer, fasting and repentance. It is also the only day in the liturgical year when the Mass is not celebrated, emphasizing the sorrow and mourning of the Church as it remembers Christ’s death.

The Passion of Christ is the central event of Good Friday. From the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane to His last breath on the cross, Jesus endured immense physical and emotional pain—all out of love for humanity. Dying for us and for our sins is the ultimate act of LOVE.

We hear in today’s First Reading:

It was our infirmities that he bore,
            our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
            as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
            crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
            by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
            each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
            the guilt of us all.

For the past 40 days, we have prayed and fasted and reached out to those suffering in body, mind and spirit.  We have, hopefully, spent time reflecting on our own sinfulness.  Jesus suffered and died for our sins, for all those nails we hammered into that fence!  Whether it was our anger or dishonesty, greed or selfishness, our nails left a hole in our relationship with God and with others.  And this is the day when Jesus’ sacrifice opened the gates of Heaven.

However, unlike the father who told his son the nail holes were permanent, that the scars and wounds of his actions would always be there, we are reminded today that Jesus not only redeemed our souls but repaired those ‘holes’ and healed our relationship with the Father!

Today and year after year, Good Friday invites us to come together as believers, to lay down our burdens and sorrows, to acknowledge and take ownership of injustices and selfishness, all the sins of the world and, as we come forward to venerate the Sacred Wood, to lay all our nails at the foot of the Cross