GOOD FRIDAY 2008

GOOD FRIDAY 2008STORY: A young man told the following story:
In their later years, both my mom and dad were finished living on their own and now lived in a life-care retirement center. Partially due to the stress of my mom's Alzheimer's
condition, my dad became ill and was no longer able to care for her.
They lived in separate rooms yet were together as much as they could be.
They loved each other so much. Hand-in-hand, those silver-haired lovers
would stroll the halls, visiting their friends, passing out love. They
were the "romantics" of the retirement center.

When I realized that my mother's condition was worsening, I wrote her a
letter of acknowledgment. I told her how much I loved her. I
apologized for my orneriness when I was growing up. I told her that she
was a great mother and I was proud to be her son. I told her things I
had wanted to say for a long time but had been too stubborn to say until
I realized she might not be in a position to comprehend the love behind
the words. It was a detailed letter of love and of completion. My dad
told me she often spent hours reading and re-reading that letter.

It saddened me to know that my mom no longer knew I was her son. As we finished our visit, She would often ask, "Now, what was your name?" and I would proudly reply
that my name was Larry and I was her son. She would smile and reach for
my hand. I wish I could once again experience that special touch.

On one of my visits, I stopped by the local malt shop and bought my
mother and father each a strawberry malt. I stopped by her room first,
re-introduced myself to her, chatted for a few minutes and then took the
other strawberry malt to my dad's room.

By the time I returned, she had almost finished the malt. She had lain
down on the bed for a rest. She was awake. We both smiled when she saw
me come into the room.

Without a word, I pulled a chair close to the bed and reached over to
hold her hand. It was a divine connection. I silently affirmed my love
for her. In the quiet I could feel the magic of our unconditional love,
even though I knew she was quite unaware of who was holding her hand.
Or was she holding my hand?

After about 10 minutes, I felt her give my hand a tender squeeze...three
squeezes. They were brief and instantly I knew what she was saying
without having to hear any words.

The miracle of unconditional love is nurtured by the power of our infinitely loving God
and our own imagination.

I couldn't believe it! Even though she could no longer express her
innermost thoughts like she used to, no words were necessary. It was as
though she came back for a brief moment.

Many years ago when my father and she were dating, she had invented this
special way of telling my dad, "I love you!" while they were sitting in
church. He would softly give her hand two squeezes to say, "Me too!"

I gave her hand two soft squeezes. She turned her head and gave me a
loving smile I shall never forget. Her countenance radiated love.

I remembered her expressions of unconditional love for my father, our
family and her countless friends. Her unconditional love continues to profoundly
influence my life.

Another eight to ten minutes went by. No words were spoken.

Suddenly, she turned to me and quietly spoke these words: "It's
important to have someone who loves you."

I wept. They were tears of joy. I gave her a warm and tender hug, told
her how very much I loved her and left.

My mother finished her life and passed away shortly after that.

Very few words were spoken that day; those she spoke were words of
gold. Even though she had died, our unconditional love for each other would never be finished. I will always treasure those special moments.

This beautiful story of unconditional love between son and mother is a retelling of the story we are commemorating today.
The story of Jesus’ unconditional love for each one of us by laying down his life for us.
Years ago the Good Friday preacher would dwell on Jesus’ physical sufferings.
The preacher would terrorize the people, describing Jesus’ sufferings with the most gory and bloody details.
The people would shudder as if caught in a winter storm at the preacher’s grotesque delineations of Jesus’ gaping wounds, his suffocating shortness of breath, his desert sand thirst, his plunging exhaustion, his ghostly crying out from the cross.
But today the focus is more one Jesus’ motive for his suffering and death, the theological insight behind his physical sufferings.
Jesus’ motivation is summed up in his tightly woven words, There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends.
You might wonder why God demanded Jesus’ crucifying death. But God did not make such a demand. Rather God asked Jesus to spread the Kingdom no matter what the cost. And, as it turned out, the cost was Jesus’ life, given up on the cross.
Jesus did not enter into his crucifixion with the total detachment as God. Rather Jesus’ bloody sweat in the Garden of Olives testifies to the fact that Jesus underwent his crucifixion in the totality of his humanness.
Jesus crucifixion was not as easy as welcoming the little children. Rather Jesus’ crucifixion was as torturous as his crown of thorns, as the nails driven into his flesh.
But all Jesus’ sufferings sprang, as a flower from a seed, out of his unconditional love for us.
Today we are not looking back through the dim centuries at Jesus crucified as if searching historical archives.
Rather as Brenden Manning says in his book, The Signature of Jesus, “Jesus’ message to us from the cross is: ‘See how much I love you; see how much you are to love one another.’”
What we celebrate on this Good Friday is Jesus’ challenge to make God’s love visible and palpable through our love for each other.
The challenge of Good Friday was summed up by the famous inspirational speaker Leo Buscaglia. He said, “It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of our world, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “As gold is purified by fire so love is enriched by sacrifice.”
Today, on this Good Friday, you leave our church renewed in your determination to lay down you life out of self-sacrificing, unconditional love for others, otherwise Good Friday is merely a commemoration, not a challenge, Good Friday is just a sentimental journey not a radical life-changing experience.
Lord Jesus crucified, grant us the power and strength to always lay down our lives for others out of unconditional love.