As you know, every year, we hear a different Gospel version of the Passion; this year we heard it from the Gospel of Luke. Scripture scholars call this Gospel the Gospel of Mercy since it so often depicts Jesus teaching and showing God’s mercy. Today’s passion account is filled with examples of Jesus reaching out in mercy and compassion as he is suffering his own passion. Allow me to point them out to you so we can reflect on them together.
The first example of mercy we hear in today’s Gospel is the institution of the Eucharist as the new and everlasting covenant. In his love for his people, God had offered a covenant with Abraham, then with the people Israel at Mount Sinai and also with David. Each time, God promised that he would take care of his people. All they needed to do was be faithful to him. Over and over again, however, God’s people turned away from him and worshiped false gods. So, he sent his son, who offered his own body and blood as the sign of the new and everlasting covenant – the clearest sign of God’s loving mercy for his people. After offering his apostles his body and blood as the sign of the new covenant, Jesus, in his great love and mercy, assures Peter that he has prayed for him, that his faith may not fail so that he could, in turn, strengthen his brothers. As we heard a few moments ago, however, shortly after this, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus and he and all the other disciples, except John, would abandon him. Of course, we know that after his resurrection, the risen Lord would appear to Peter and the other disciples and, as we read in Luke’s Gospel, would offer them his peace – another clear sign of his mercy.
Let’s get back to today’s Gospel, however where we hear that next, after Judas betrays Jesus and one of the disciples cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant in defense of Jesus, Jesus stops the disciple and heals the servant. After Jesus has been tried and found guilty of false charges, he is given the cross on which he will be crucified. He then makes his painful way up to Golgotha. When he meets some women who are mourning and lamenting him, he once again demonstrates great mercy as he comforts them, saying, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do no weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children.”
It is on the cross that Jesus shows the greatest mercy. He has the power to call down God’s vengeance on the people who have treated him so cruelly but, instead, he prays to God, begging for his mercy, saying, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And then, as he hangs there, dying an excruciatingly painful death, he extends his mercy toward a criminal who is beside him with the assurance that “today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus, the one whom the centurion acknowledges “was innocent beyond doubt,” would have had every right and reason to lash out against those who accused him falsely, against those who nailed him to the cross or to those two criminals on his right and left; his anger would certainly have been justified. Instead, he repeatedly showed his mercy and great love. As we hear foretold in today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, he gave his back to those who beat him. In his great mercy, he “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” as we hear in today’s second reading.
As we begin this Holy Week during this Jubilee Year of Hope, let us reflect on the hope that God’s great mercy gives us, as Jesus shows so clearly throughout his life and especially during his passion. Whether we are like the Jewish leaders, who lied and accused him falsely, the disciples who betrayed him, or denied knowing him or abandoned him, or the Romans, who treated him with such great contempt, we are assured that he will treat us with mercy; he will forgive us for we do not know what we do. All we need to do, like Peter or the criminal to his right, is admit our faults and ask for forgiveness and God, in his infinite mercy, will always forgive us and, with joy, welcome us into his kingdom. Let us resolve to follow Jesus now this Holy Week, suffering with him in the firm hope that we may also live the new life of the Resurrection with him.