Have you ever wondered why the good seem to suffer while evil people prosper? That is what puzzled Peter when he tried to rescue Jesus from His enemies in the garden of Gethsemane. Peter was so outraged that an innocent man like Jesus should suffer that he took up his sword to defend Him. Jesus told him to put his “sword into its scabbard” for He had to suffer to accomplish His Father’s will. “Shall I not drink the cup of suffering,” He told Peter, “that the Father gave me”( Gospel of John 18: 11).

Fascinating, isn’t it? Poor St. Peter, like the critics of Job in the Old Testament, could not envisage a good person like Jesus, having to suffer. Suffering, Peter imagined, was only for bad people who deserved to suffer because of the wrong they had done. The passion of Jesus in the gospel of John, chapter 18, tells a different story. It is the Good Friday story.

We try to protect ourselves from suffering in all kinds of ways, don’t we? Getting away from it all, buying a new toy, changing the job, popping pills, you name it. Some people even feel that others are the cause of their suffering and they may be right. How they react to it or handle it, however, is what is most important. Some think all they need to do is not get involved, to refuse to love anyone. In that way, they will never have to take a risk, never be disappointed and never have their trust betrayed. It is a safe way to live. The only problem is that while the refusal to get involved may protect one from suffering, it never causes much joy either.

Love conquers all, even suffering. This is the Christian message. When a person loves, suffering loses its sting. To be sure, the person who loves God and all God’s children will experience suffering. But, what is happening is that selfishness is dying within us, and that is a painful but necessary process in order to live a fulfilled and satisfying life. Jesus was “pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins” (Isaiah 53:5), so that we might die to sin.

Suffering is certainly not a punishment from God. How could it be since Jesus had to suffer on Good Friday? It is not good to see any living creature suffer, and we should never cause others to suffer, at least consciously. We should try to avoid all unnecessary suffering to ourselves and to others.

But, suffering can be a sign that we are able to give love. So, let us not fear to love, even if it involves suffering. When Peter objected to Christ’s suffering, the Lord replied: “Get behind me, Satan! You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s” (Matthew 16:23).

Great Love and Great Sacrifice go hand in hand. On Good Friday, Jesus demonstrated that His love for us knew no bounds. He loved us even to an agonizing death on the Cross.

There’s a story about a little boy who was gazing lovingly at a crucifix through a shop window. A passerby noticed his fascination with the crucifix that depicted Jesus hanging on the cross. Since he wasn’t a Christian, he asked the boy, “why are you staring at that?” The boy explained that the crucifix “was of Jesus who died for our sins on the cross.” The man shook his head and said: ” how can you admire an image like that? It’s too depressing.” As the man was walking away, the young boy called out to him: “Hey Mister! I forgot to tell you, He didn’t just stay dead.”

The cross of Jesus is not an end in itself. Is is the means through which our salvation was purchased

May we all experience the true meaning of the cross this Good Friday.

Fr. Hugh Duffy