Good Friday: Solidarity with suffering

Janina Gomes

​​Just why does the Cross of Christ evoke so many emotions and find an echo in so many hearts? It is because it speaks to us about one of our deepest experiences of grief and sorrow, which are part and parcel of our lives. It is a reminder of our universal human response to situations that challenge us and sometimes even break us. The wounds of Jesus become for us wounds of humanity. The answer to this is not to nurse our wounds till they become sore, but to seek healing just in the way Jesus’ cross brought redemption to all of us.
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Today, the world does not give us much choice, with its violence against those considered our enemies. Jesus taught us another way, more human and more liberating. The cross of Christ was paradoxically a way of suffering and yet redemptive. The greatest message of the Cross is that just as Jesus died for our sake to redeem us, we too must die daily to ourselves and transform our lives by accepting suffering as a path to peace and reconciliation.
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​ Often, we revolt against suffering. But our greatest friend is suffering, because it teaches us life lessons. Suffering for some is a meaningless exercise in accepting what we do not want for ourselves or need. But finding meaning in it can save us from the great harm others sometimes do to us. Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi concentration camps even after his entire family was wiped out, was able to find meaning in suffering. That experience inspired him to write Man’s Search for Meaning.

Suffering is also linked to purpose. It is not the wholly negative experience that it is made out to be. It creates in us a longing for deeper spirituality and urges us to move further inwards, until we touch the core of our being, where we find our true purpose. Once we do that, we will find treasures of wisdom and understanding that go beyond the immediate cross to glory of the Resurrection.
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Rulers have dominated and enslaved people, empires have been built and destroyed, nations have been invaded, and power has been misused to oppress others… The horrendous war that has broken out in West Asia, the damage it has caused, and the suffering of innocentpeople; then there are conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, Ethiopia, Yemen – all creating humanitarian crises. And yet, there are plenty of good people around who try to negotiate and bring peace. They work to build bridges, heal wounds, and restore societies, which are plaguedwith division and intolerance of the ‘other’.
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Where and when does Good Friday bring meaning to such situations? The cross of Jesus is a pointer to how we can work to restore peace and harmony in the world. The cross of Christ invites us to bring warring nations to a peaceful compromise. Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist Vietnamese monk who later lived and taught in Plum Village, France, often used his meditation techniques and mindfulness to restore people’s sanity.
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There is power flowing from Jesus on the cross, which gives us hope and consolation in difficult times. The darkness with which we are living now will not last forever. Because on the cross, Jesus has overcome the darkness, and his death and resurrection have given us the promise of eternal life.

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