By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Well, a very blessed Easter to all! While Christmas is prerequisite in salvation history as God has ordained that history, Easter itself is the holiest day of the Christian year in our remembrance of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Because, as the apostles write, He is simply the “first-born” from the dead; His faithful disciples are called to follow, and through His resurrection comes our hope for eternal life with God.

Of course, leading up to this great joy was pain … the extreme bittersweetness of Jesus’ Passion and death—so bitter in the divine who loves us literally infinitely endures so terrible a fate as to be crucified after a mock trial, and yet so sweet in knowing that His suffering lead to forgiveness of the sins and evils of those who seek that forgiveness through faith and conversion of life toward betterment and virtue.

His whole life had been a preparation for these moments. They are bitter scenes as we kneel with Jesus in the Garden … and watch, disbelievingly helpless at Judas’—His disciple’s … His friend’s … betrayal.  “Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)

We watch anxiously at His mock trial before the religious authorities. In the courtyard … the sweat and the blood … the shouts of the crowd … the lashes of the whip … the cross, the rocky Via Dolorosa, the climbing of Calvary … blows of the hammer ringing against the nails … hours of watching Him writhe upon the cross … the anguish of His sweet Mother, of John, of the Magdalene. The bloody, contorted, agonized face of Our Lord.

And yet, despite jeers of the crowd, the blood, the pain … we give humble thanks for so great a love, without which our redemption and salvation would not be forthcoming. For His is not a love of promises untested … a self-interested love of convenience … but rather a love of total self-giving … to the last nerve shattered … to the last drop of blood … to—literally—the last breath and the last earthly thought.

His was not love diminished at betrayal, or when despised, or when forsaken. But His—a love unbroken, and for all time – is a love which gifts even His heart—His mother—to His executioners. To His disciples. To us. “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” (John 19:26)

It was not Jews or Romans who crucified Him; a hammer is not to blame, but rather those who wield it—each person wielding the hammer of sins … of wrongs done against God and Man. The crucifixion is the scourge of our infidelities to God and to Good … the spear of our betrayals which is thrust into His Sacred Heart. It was our transgressions against the fruits of the Spirit … against “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Against forgiveness.

As the Catholic Catechism teaches:  “…sinners were the authors and ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured…those who plunge themselves into their disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts…And when we deny Him by our deeds, we…lay violent hands on Him.”  (para. 598)

Yet, even with all this, His is a love calling out even in its agony, for mercy for the treacherous beloved:  “Father, forgive them…they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24)

We all know that love is not proven by what it receives, but rather by what it gives. And what is given …  what is sacrificed … proves the extent of love. And “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) What greater proof of love can be given than to sacrifice all that one has—even one’s very life—for the beloved?

So … behold, O Christian … God’s tremendous, infinite, and undeniable love for you. So … will you love Him—and His Body, your fellow disciples and, indeed, the world—as He has so loved you?

But be not dissuaded by those who do not (yet?) believe. Yes, much of the world has gone the way of Freud, who considered the idea of God/gods as a figment of imagination based on a childish desire for a dominant father figure, which that can now be discarded in favor of science and reason. Such ideas, of course, elevate Man to the highest of beings, with the added “benefit” of much relieving him of responsibility for his actions and of obligation. No wonder it is so appealing; we are gods!! Too bad we don’t act very divinely.

But such a philosophy discards history, and evidence therein: witness of many who were before us. It is witness of those who saw and believed … worked to spread that belief, and eventually were killed for their efforts and trouble. It is witness of those who walked with Jesus for years—far too long and too closely to be fooled by a fraud or pretender. And what did Jesus Himself gain if simply a man? To be hung on a cross.

And yet, the whole world was changed by the teaching and work of this uneducated manual laborer from a small town in a Roman puppet state. Now, really … how likely is that unless He was who He said He was? To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, because of what Jesus said and taught and reportedly did, He had to be a charlatan, or a madman … or God. And, as so presciently observed by the rabbi Gamaliel: “ … if this plan or this undertaking [Christianity] is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38-39)

So, O Christian, take heart in your faith, and rejoice in this day. Let us live lives and faith and charity so that, despite inevitable pushback from the world, we might “ … become … [goodness] to all men, that [we] might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22) For that is our own Christ-given mission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded … “ (Matthew 28:19-20)

Easter joy and blessings to one and all! Maranatha!!

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.