I have the honor and privilege of attending funerals for each Catholic deacon in the Diocese of Lansing who passes away. While each person is dear to me and each liturgy is special and beautiful, depending on my relationship with the one who passed, some funerals can be more difficult and emotional. Just before a funeral, I remember hugging the wife of a deacon who had passed and thinking to myself, “This is going to be a tough one.” It’s no secret that the condition of our relationships can affect our reactions and responses to the circumstances and situations of life that we experience with others. What we do often depends on our relationships.
We read in the Gospel the story of how Jesus was crucified and killed (Luke 23: 35-43). The line that strikes me, “The people stood by and watched.” The rulers, soldiers, and even one of those being crucified along-side Jesus sneered at him and made fun of him. But the people stood by and watched. If you put yourself there, standing by and watching Jesus hanging and dying on the cross, and hearing what they were saying about him, what goes through your heart and mind? Our response just might depend on our relationship with Jesus.
Maybe your relationship causes you to react like the others. No reaction. Just stand by and watch.
Maybe your relationship is such that you feel moved with disbelief. Not believing the things that happened, that it’s gone this far, and that it is going to end like this. Sad and confused, you are left wondering what happens next.
Maybe your relationship causes you to want to respond with anger. After all they put him through, they don’t let up. You might feel like yelling out, Stop! Just stop! You’ve accused him, whipped him, beat him, nailed him, hung him, humiliated him, and are killing him. Enough already! Just, stop!
The good news for us is that there is another response to this story. We can come to know and love Jesus well enough to respond with gratitude. Gratitude for saving us by not saving himself. So today, we can, like the repentant thief, confess our sins, listen to what Jesus has to say, profess our faith in God, ask to be remembered, receive his love, and have an intimate relationship with him.
One with Jesus, we can help him to continue his ministry on earth. We take him with us into the world in which we go so we don’t just stand by and watch, but would use our eyes to see those who are poor and struggling, use our feet to quickly go to them, use our ears, mind and hearts to listen to their sighs and sorrows, use our hands to help and serve them, blessing whomever we encounter, by bringing into the circumstances and situations of their life the love of the one we know, Jesus.