It is customary on Good Friday to tell the story of the passion of the Christ using St. John’s account. Maybe because the fourth gospel does not contain a scene of what in the other three gospels is referred to as “the agony in the garden” — St. John begins his passion narrative with the arrest of Jesus – the lectionary provides an alternative description of that event in the second reading, the epistle. The letter to the Hebrews, chapter 5, tell us that when Jesus was “in the flesh,” when he was still experiencing all the worry and weakness, all the inability and disability that are part of the human condition, he offered prayers and supplications. How similar our story is to his. We too offer prayers and supplications to God out of our need, aware of our cares and concerns. Maybe, also like Jesus, our prayers are so heartfelt that they are made “with loud cries and tears.” Dear God, send the cure. Dear God, heal my broken heart. Dear God, give me enough so that I can pay my bills. We know the content of the prayer which Jesus made with loud cries and tears from the other gospel accounts: Father, if it is possible let this cup pass me by. If it is possible, loving God, find a way to save the world other than my having to go up Calvary’s hill. And, we are told by the epistle, “he was heard because of his reverence.” The letter to the Hebrews insists, that the prayer of Jesus in the garden was heard.
Here, perhaps, is where our experience differs from that of Jesus. We feel like our prayers have been heard when we get what we want. The cancer is cured, the family is restored, a new job is offered, the loneliness is removed. “Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer.” However, the epistle says that “the one who was able to save him from death” heard Jesus – and yet he died anyway. How do we explain such a strange conclusion? How did God hear the prayer of Jesus and yet he still had to go through the suffering and the pain we associate with Good Friday? The answer of the author of the letter is: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” God heard the prayer of Jesus by having him trust that obeying the divine plan would accomplish in deeper and better ways what Jesus was asking for. God heard the prayer of Jesus not by granting what he asked for but by giving him more than he could have hoped for. Instead of letting the cup pass by, God replaced the cup of suffering with the cup of gladness. Instead of restoration, God gave Jesus resurrection.
This is the heart of the mystery of Good Friday. On this day, we are not simply to be horrified at the suffering that Jesus went through, as horrible as that was. The point is not what Jesus endured but his obedience to God’s will through it all. We are to understand, as Isaiah puts it, that since “he gives his life as an offering for sin … the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him.” Good Friday changes our perception of what it means to have our prayers heard. If we are like Jesus in praying with loud cries and tears, we can be like Jesus in learning from what we suffer. Good Friday shows us a God who hears the longings of the human heart that we aren’t even aware of. Good Friday means that getting what we want isn’t always what is best for us. Good Friday proves that the plan of God is better than our plan. On Good Friday we can pray with loud cries and tears, “Dear God you know my needs, but because of the cross I can ‘confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.’”
