Good Friday - the Day to Open the Gate of Divine Mercy, the Heart of God

 Today, Good Friday, is to commemorate the death of Jesus on the Cross. Though we certainly mourn his death, we humbly and contritely reflect how our perpetual sinfulness had led him to his passion and death. At the same time, we also contemplate what we have reflected during Advent season and Christmastide in terms of significance of God coming to us, incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, conceived in the womb of Mary the Immaculate Conception and Blessed Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31-35), born in a stable, placed in a manger, as no room in the inn (Luke 2:6-7), regarded as the newborn king of the Jews by the Magi (Matthew 2:2), and receiving myrrh from the Magi (Matthew 2:11).

Had God the Father not sent His begotten Son to us incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, how could the passion and death of Christ have happened? Then, how else could we have had been redeemed and saved? Otherwise, it would be us to take up the cup of judgement and die for our own sins, as sin leads to death (Romans 6:23).

On the night before, Jesus raised and offered the cup of salvation (Psalm 116:13) to his disciples as the chalice of his blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:27-28// Luke 22:20//Mark 14:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25) and reassured to take up the cup of judgement in our place, as it was in the Father’s will (Matthew 26:39,42//Mark 14:36//Luke 22:42). And for this reason, Christ the Son was sent to us in the human flesh of Jesus, conceived and born of Mary, raised in the Holy Family.

Good Friday is also to remember how Jesus suffered and died to fulfilled the fourth song of the suffering servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). It means that his suffering toward death leads not only to our salvation but to his glorification (John 12:23;13:31-33), as indicated in Isaiah 52:13; 53:11-12. And he was absolutely obedient to this mission (Philippians 2:8-9; Hebrews 5:7-9).

It is a good day, not simply a mournful day, because it is also the day to remember that we have the way to the Father and more powerful benefits of the Divine Mercy upon the death of Jesus on the Cross. All this is verified further upon the resurrection. Thus, Jesus wants us to celebrate Sunday after Resurrection Sunday for the Divine Mercy.

We have reflected Jesus as the suffering servant for the Father’s salvific will for us through the four songs of the suffering servant from Deutero Isaiah during Holy Week through First Readings (Isaiah 50:4-7.for Palm Sunday; 42:1-7 for Holy Monday; 49:1-6 for Holy Tuesday;50:4-9a for Spy Wednesday; 52:13-53:12 for Good Friday).  On Good Friday, we commemorate the climax of the suffering of this servant leader, who has said to lad down his own life for those whom he leads with love (John 10:11) as commanded by the Father (John 10:18). The fact that Jesus’ death was the Good Shepherd laying down his life to save the sheep under his care (John 10:11, 18) is also the kid of death as a grain of  wheat to fall and die to bring greater harvest in glory for us to follow his way (John 12:23-33).

While Palm Sunday Mass Gospel Reading covers from Jesus’ anointing in  Bethany on Spy Wednesday to his burial on Good Friday (Matthew 26:14-27:66-A A; Mark 14:1-15:47-B; Luke 22:14-23:56), Good Friday Memorial Service Gospel Reading (John 18:1-19:42) covers from Jesus’ arrest on the late night of Holy Thursday to his burial in the afternoon of Good Friday. The Gospel text for Good Friday Service (no Mass on this day to commemorate Christ’s death) (John 18:1-19:42) really reflect the progressive darkness in the Tenebrae Service for Sacred Paschal Triduum. The Good Friday Gospel reading reflects how Jesus’ life gradually declines into expiration, reflected in the increasing darkness in the Tenebrae Service, while it moves from the darkness of night at the time of Jesus’ arrest to the day light’s coming in the morning of Jesus’ trial and scourging by Pilate and to Jesus’s acceptance of the Cross to his death on the Cross at the 9^th Roman hour (3 o’clock in the afternoon). And this whole strain of events from Jesus’ arrest to death was the preparation and slaughtering of the ultimate Korban Pesach (Passover sacrificial lamb), as regulated in Exodus 12:6; Numbers 9:1-3.

As metaphorically reflected in the Good Friday Gospel Reading (John 18:1-19:42), as the ultimate Korban Pesach, Jesus was caught to be slaughtered for Pesach to begin the seven-day feast to thank and praise God the Father for passing his judgement wrath over us, as we are protected by the blood of this Korban Pesach, whose blood began flowing, along with water, upon his death (John 19:34).

To St. Maria Faustina, Jesus in his revelation to her, explained the blood and the water from his body:

The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes the soul righteous . The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls . These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by the lance on the Cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (Diary of St. Faustina 299).

The blood flowing from the body of Jesus for the life of souls refers to the  Eucharist, as the new covenant, while the water to make souls righteous, refers to the water of baptism.

Out of the pierced body of Jesus on the Cross, upon his death, the Divine Mercy – the blood and the water - has become available to us. And, it was because the death of Jesus has removed the separation between God and us as symbolized in the tearing of the curtain of the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:31-35) (Matthew 27:51//Mark 15:38), as to affirm what Jesus has said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

The way to the Father has been blocked ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden, keeping us from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). But, through the death of Jesus, this is no longer the case.  And, because of the blood flowing from the body of Jesus upon his death (John 19:34), we can be made worthy to have a free access to the tree of life through the open gate of heaven (Revelation 22:14).

Good Friday, though it demanded great passion and death on Jesus as the cup of judgement, in place of ours, his death on the Cross has made our path to the Father and the tree of life open. And, his resurrection, as his glorification does not end with his death on the Cross but continue to unfold through his Resurrection and Ascension, reaffirm this soteriological truth.

To fully appreciate this, we walk Via Dolorosa – Via Crucis with Jesus on Good Friday. The below table, I have made a cross reference of the Stations of the Cross to the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and all Passion narratives of all four canonical Gospels with notes to help you reflect.

Now you can walk with suffering Jesus to death to experience the opening of the gate of the Divine Mercy and the open gate to the heart of the Father in heaven. 

14 Stations of the Cross	5 Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary	Corresponding Gospel texts	Note
	I  The agony in the garden	Matthew 26:36-46//Mark 14:32-42//Luke 22:40-46	Jesus’ agonizing prayer in this basin location adjacent to Mount Olive is mentioned in John’s Gospel.   This place of agony is known as Gethsemane for pressing olives for oil according and as Kidron for the stream in which blood of sacrificial animals in the Temple is drained. Upon crossing this place of olive pressing and stream of sacrificial animal blood, Jesus himself began being pressed by the forces of human evil and shed his blood.
	II The scourging at the Pillar	John 19:1-5	After the agony in the garden, Jesus was arrested and brought to Annas and denied by Peter three times before the cock crowed (John 1:18:1-27). Then, Jesus was brought to Pilate in the morning to be tried by this Roman governor (John 18:28-40). While Jesus was in Pilate’s custody, he was scourged and crowed with thorns (John 19:1-2) and mocked as the king of the Jews (John 19:3).
I Jesus is condemned to death		Matthew 27:15-26// Mark 15:6-15//Luke 23:18-23;John 19:6-16	The Sanhedrin first wanted have Jesus killed for blasphemy, as Caiaphas suggested to have Jesus killed by the Romans to save the save the Jewish state (John 11:49-53).  To execute Jesus for blasphemy is according to the Mosaic Law. However, this was not of Roman interest. Therefore, Jesus needed to be presented as a danger to the Roman Empire. For this, his crime was made as being king of the Jews.
	III Crowning with thorns	Matthew 27:27-31//Mark 15:16-20   *John 19:3,5	John describes that Jesus was already crowned with thorns before condemned to death. He was crowned when being scourged.
II Jesus accepts the cross	IV Carrying of the Cross	Matthew 27:32//Mark 15:21//Luke 23:26-32; John 19:17	Jesus accepts the Cross as he is obedient to the Father’s will to take the cup of judgement (Matthew 26:42//Mark 14:36//Luke 22:46) to death on the Cross (Philippians 2:8; cf Hebrews 5:8-9).
III Jesus falls the first time	**IV		Though falls of Jesus are not mentioned in the canonical Gospel narratives, it is likely as Jesus is already exhausted from being scourged and crowned with thorns. He has been bruised and bleeding.
IV  Jesus meets His Mother	**IV
V  Simon of Cyrene carries the cross	**IV	Matthew27:32//Mark 15:21//Luke 23:26
VI  Veronica wipes the face of Jesus	**IV
VII  Jesus falls the second time	**IV
VIII  Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem	**IV	Luke 23:27-31	Jesus called the women of Jerusalem he met on Via Crucis, “daughters of Jerusalem” (Luke 23:28). Jesus tells the women of Jerusalem to mourn for themselves, not for him, because Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Romans, even he is not put to death to save the Jewish state, including Jerusalem, as suggested by Caiaphas, by the order of Titus Caesar Vespasianus in 70 AD. No need to mourn the death of Jesus because he is to die as the Temple to be destroyed so that he can rebuilt in three days (John 2:19).
IX  Jesus falls the third time	**IV
X  Jesus is stripped of His garments	**IV
XI  Jesus is nailed to the Cross – Crucifixion	V The Crucifixion	Matthew 27:33-44//Mark 15:22-32//Luke 23:33-43; John 19:18-27	Do you feel the pain of Jesus as nails penetrate through his hand and legs? This is the pain that we should have for our sins against God. If we have been truly repentant through Lenten season and with genuinely contrite heart, then, we should feel Jesus’ pain as ours.
XII  Jesus dies on the cross		Matthew 27:45-56//Mark 33-41//Luke 23:44-49; John 19:28-37	The curtain of the Holy of Holies, where God is in the Tabernacle, (Exodus 26:31-35) is torn (Matthew 27:51//Mark 15:38), when Jesus dies. This means that we have become more accessible to God the Father through Jesus – upon his death on the Cross, reflecting what Jesus has said about our access to the Father only through him (John 14:6-8), opening the sheep gate by laying down his life as the Good Shepherd (John 10:9-11) so that we can return to God safely.   Upon Jesus’ death, blood and water flow out as a soldier thrust his lance into a side of Jesus’ body (John 19:34), as the flow of the Divine Mercy, as Jesus later tells St. Maria Faustina (Diary of St. Faustina, 299), to protect us from God’s wrath, as the blood of the Pesach lamb (Exodus 12:5-7,12-13,21-27). And, this is indeed the blood of Agnus Dei, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the blood to wash us for eternal salvation and blessing (Revelation 7:14, 22:14).   These phenomenon brought even pagans to believe (i.e. Matthew 27:54//Mark 15:39//Luke 23:47).   The last words of Jesus: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(Matthew 27:46//Mark 15:34); “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”(Luke 23:46); “It is finished”(John 19:30).
XIII  Jesus’ body is removed from the cross		Matthew 27:57-58//Mark 15:42-45//Luke 23:50-52; John 19:38	Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for his permission to receive Jesus’ body for burial.
XIV Jesus is laid in the tomb		Matthew 27:59-60//Mark 15:46-47//Luke 23:53-56; John 19:39-42	Besides Joseph of Arimathea, those who were present at the burial were: Matthew says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (27:61).  Mark says that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were present (16:47). Luke says the women who followed all the way form Galilee (23:55). John says Nicodemus (19:39).