The danger and hope of Good Friday

Opinion

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This article was published 28/03/2024 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We are approaching Good Friday — a day that has been historically dangerous for Jewish people. Over the course of history, Christians have been inflamed by misguided sermons that blame Jews for the death of Jesus.

On Good Fridays of the past, pogroms (organized vigilante attacks on minorities, especially Jews) have broken out in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Galicia and Ruthenia.

After attending Good Friday worship, some would leave the church enraged and proceed to vandalize synagogues and Jewish businesses. Others would drag Jews out of their homes to beat or kill them in the name of the crucified Christ. Jews feared for their lives when Good Friday drew near.

Christian denominations have since apologized for their vitriolic antisemitism, including the Roman Catholics and Lutherans.

But I still hear Christians saying that the Jews killed Jesus.

Yes, there are scripture passages to blame, but they might be interpreted differently if we can remember the following:

1. Jesus and his disciples were Jewish. Much of Jesus’ teachings resembled the liberal, Jewish Hillel school of his day.

2. Jesus was particularly concerned about those marginalized by race, gender and class within the social hierarchy that was cruelly imposed by the Roman colonizers. Some of the Jewish leaders recognized the danger of Jesus’ protests that challenged Rome. They tried to stop him before the Romans killed all of the Jews. But in the end, it was the Romans, not the Jews, who crucified Jesus.

3. Upon Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus admonished Peter, who brandished his sword. There was to be no violent response. Jesus went willingly to the cross and asked God to forgive all who were responsible for his death. Even as he hung on the cross, he embraced the suffering of others, including his mother and one of the men crucified with him.

As Christians approach Good Friday this year, I pray that we will, once and for all, banish the inflammatory notion that Jews killed Jesus.

Good Friday is a story of forgiveness and suffering love, not revenge and retribution.

I also pray that we will learn how to embrace the suffering of all. Sages and mystics of various faiths teach us to be as concerned about the distress of others as we are about our own.

May we hold the suffering of all victims of wars and terrorism — Israelis, Palestinians, Ukrainians, Russians, Afghans, Sudanese, Eritreans, Ethiopians and Haitians. Sadly, this list is not complete.

The ability to hold the suffering of all — especially that of our “enemies” — is the key to compassion and a way through enmity to lasting peace and security for everyone. Violence begets violence and only serves to deepen the cycle of hostility.

We must open our hearts to the terrified Gazan child, whose parents have just been killed in an airstrike, and to the Israeli hostage who is barely hanging on while enduring sexual abuse. We must embrace the Ukrainians grieving family and towns obliterated by Russian bombs and the Russians grieving those massacred in a recent terrorist attack at a concert.

The Buddhist teaching of tonglan breathes in the suffering of others and breathes out loving kindness.

The Jewish teaching of tikkun olam elevates the mending of our wounded world.

The Muslim teaching of compassion breaks through ethnic boundaries.

The Christian teaching of agapic love returns violence with a refusal to hate.

If people of faith can return to the heart of each of our faith traditions, the healing way of suffering love will emerge.

Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd is a retired United Church minister and recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Advancement of Interreligious Understanding.