Good Friday: Mission Accomplished

Today is Good Friday. According to the Jewish calendar, Friday is the 6th day of the week. It was on the 6th day that God breathed into the dust of the ground and created humanity. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is doing the work of his Father. He says, “My Father is always at his work…and I too am working” (John 5:17). Today, on the cross Jesus finishes that work. He says, “It is accomplished” (John 19:30). He then bows his head and gives up his spirit. The word spirit is the same word for breath.

When Jesus breathes his last breath he releases his Spirit into the world. It is the same Spirit that breathed humanity into existence. It is the Spirit of Life itself. The Spirit of the One in whom there is no violence, and who is in rivalry with nothing, not even death. It’s that Spirit that hovers over the darkness and the chaos. Three days later that Spirit calls forth a New Humanity. It takes the form of the risen Christ, who comes to us in the Resurrection and breathes on us again and says, “As the Father sent me so, I send you.”

But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Today it’s enough to see Jesus bow his head and breathe his last. Jesus’ last breath is humanity’s first breath. This is how Creation is called into being. Mission Accomplished.

Creation Word
by Rumi

Grace comes with the creation word, Be
That gate opens without hesitating.
Between the push of buh
and the smooth launch of ee,
there is an infinite moment
when everything happens.

At first glance, these are reflections on the events of Holy Week. They are also glimpses inside the act of Creation itself. When we enter Holy Week we have a front-row seat to God’s creative process. We are watching a great artist at work. When God created the heavens and the earth no one was there to witness it. And when God created humanity it took thousands of years for humans to make sense of it. But Holy Week is different. We are not merely spectators bearing witness to something. We are participants who reveal God’s creative genius. When we undergo the paschal mystery we find ourselves on the inside of Creation, while it’s happening. In the end, we discover ourselves as co-creators in Christ, participating in the ongoing act of Creation.