A Father Who Bears Prophetic Witness
by Fr. David M. Knight
March 29, 2024
Good Friday
Lectionary No. 40
Isaiah 52:13—53:12; Psalm 31; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7–9; John 18:1-19:42
"He shall startle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see..." Isaiah 52:15
A “prophet” is one whose lifestyle raises eyebrows because it cannot be explained without the Gospel. As Messiah, Jesus “startled” the world by letting himself be crucified. No one was prepared for a Messiah who won by losing. His death on the cross bore prophetic witness to the radically different values of his New Law.
The Father, by revealing his own will in all the details of Jesus’ life and death, was bearing witness himself to the Good News. Jesus said, “The very works that I am doing testify… that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). Most dramatically, the crucifixion testifies that Jesus came so that we might die to living just a good human life, live instead on the level of God. “By the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). We died in Christ and rose as a “new creation” (2Corinthians 5:17). The Good News is empowerment to live the divine ideals of Christ’s New Law as prophets.
Good Friday calls us to have faith that we are divine and called to live a divine life.
ACTION: Study the “alternate morality” of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5 to 7).
PRAYER: “Lord, let me live the new life of the Spirit (see Romans 7:6).
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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