Jesus gives himself to us on the cross as a gift of love (Jn 18,1-19,42)

Cross – a sign and hope until the end of time

We are living an extraordinary day. Today is the only day of the year that we do not celebrate Holy Mass. The world, at least the Christian world, fell into silence. The organ fell silent and so did the bells. The cross dominates before us. He became a symbol and a sign. Christ’s death on the cross opened a new era for humanity. Jesus didn’t write anything, and today entire libraries are written about him. He did not paint his portrait, and his likeness is depicted by the world’s greatest painters. He was not a musician, but his person inspired the most famous musicians in the world. He did not found any state, but his ideas influenced the constitutions of many states. The paradox of this man continues. His biography is summarized in such a small book that it is suspicious, but his name is still known throughout the cultural world. His name is associated with our counting of years, and even more so, with the view of eternity. He lived and died in a small country, and today he is known all over the world. They silenced him when he died on the cross, but today his words are alive in the mouths and hearts of millions. He died and lives.

He is the only one who declared about himself: “I am” (Jn 18:5,6), and what those who came to capture him recoiled at. He alone knew why he came into the world and as a conqueror could say: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

The mystery of the cross, which the human mind is unable to fully understand. And yet, looking at the cross and thinking about the cross becomes the starting point again and again for familiar and new views. In the cross, the truth of sin can be seen, which cannot be taken as just some fungus on the soul. Man’s sin brought God’s Son into the world to become like us humans in everything except sin. He came to reconcile mankind to the Father. Equal to the Father could only give hope to people in human flesh. His death is a sign of forgiveness. Jesus’ obedience to the Father gives us hope that we can regain what we have closed to ourselves through sin. The Son’s obedience to the Father is a call to fulfill the will of God. Christ’s death on the cross brings to the world a new form of love towards sinners.
Under the cross, everyone stands as a crowd and individuals on that afternoon when Jesus died not for himself, but for all of humanity. A deluded crowd that looks on, in which unchecked rage has taken its toll. People’s curiosity – what will he do who raised the dead, who restored freedom to others, who spoke like no one before him, becomes a reminder, a warning of the calculation, cowardice, naivety or stupidity of a person who does not take the attitude towards his own life that his God asks of him . Soldiers still have fun, because the cross is stupidity and a sign of unreasonableness for them. The representatives of the High Council scoff. Where is their humanity? They resent each other. The cross is one of the scandals for them. They do not see the logic of the cross. They do not realize that the loser is the winner and they who consider themselves winners are the losers. They forgot the words of Christ: “He who has ears, let him hear” (Mt 11:15), and also: “He who can understand, let him understand” (Mt 19:12). And so Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled on them: “You will hear and not understand, you will look and not see” (Mt 13:14). They did not understand the cross of Christ, they did not understand death, the greatness and need of his sacrifice, the meaning of all this. The opposite of their behavior can be seen in the repentant rogue. His request: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42) becomes his gain, which they renounce. God uses the cross – a sign of humiliation – for glory. which they renounce. God uses the cross – a sign of humiliation – for glory. which they renounce. God uses the cross – a sign of humiliation – for glory.

Today we know that the symbol of the cross is our hope. The cross becomes a joyful sign. We decorate ourselves with crosses, the cross finds an honorable place in our homes, offices, schools, hospitals. We build crosses at crossroads, at places where something extraordinary happened. We raise the cross to the heights of church towers, hills and mountains to give ourselves and others a reminder that in this sign our salvation was born and in the cross we have hope for eternal life. Nothing happens in the Church without the cross. With the sign of the cross, we are accepted into the community of brothers and sisters at baptism. The sign of the cross in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a reminder that we are forgiven. The bishop makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of those who receive the Holy Spirit. We begin and end the sacrifice of the Holy Mass with the cross. The sick find strength in looking at the cross. The priest blesses the rings of the newlyweds and also blesses people, events, blesses things, which are meant to help souls. And when our life’s journey ends, the cross over the grave is a sign for the living that life does not end with death.
The cross is a support. Those who lose stability tend to throw out their hands to grab onto something. A person who is aware of his insecurity is looking for something to hold on to. Archimedes once exclaimed, “Give me a fixed point in space and I will move the earth.” And we realize that everything is in motion and uncertain. We are looking for our fixed point, something to hold on to. And such a point is the cross of Christ. His expression and proof of lasting love. He calls us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will strengthen you” (Mt 11:28).

Our place is under the cross and on our knees. Surviving the event of Golgotha ​​means for us a moment to be with the suffering Christ. Take up your cross of life. Only a fool seeks what he can never find: paradise on earth, life without difficulties, crosses. The Christian winds with confidence to the cross of Christ. When we call ourselves Christians, it is right that we can also accept the cross and crosses. Christ is never more with us than when we are at the bottom of the abyss. It is everywhere where people are humiliated, overlooked. Let us remember that our daily small cross helps nations find a place to lay their heads. We will survive that the Son of God hangs betrayed, sold, abandoned, ready to lose everything, nailed to the cross between heaven and earth. It is there, on the cross, where his torment culminates, that his love is greatest and most powerful. He prays for everyone, recommends life to the Father’s hands for everyone. He sees his life’s journey from the height of the cross. From the Bethlehem manger to this Calvary. Every step is marked by a divinely perfect love for the Father and for humanity. Darkness has come, but Jesus is light. He dies, but he gives life. And he cries triumphantly: “It is finished!” We too will die. What testimony will the years of marriage, family, childhood give us? Blessed is he who will be able to exclaim: It is perfect, it was perfect according to the will of God, in piety, diligence and self-sacrificing love. Let us prepare for death so that we are not surprised. Let’s not let our loved ones die without the sacrament of the sick, without Holy Communion, God’s food for the journey to eternity. This is one of the main family responsibilities. When we fulfilled it, we became our dearest benefactors. From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, Lord! Darkness has come, but Jesus is light. He dies, but he gives life. And he cries triumphantly: “It is finished!” We too will die. What testimony will the years of marriage, family, childhood give us? Blessed is he who will be able to exclaim: It is perfect, it was perfect according to the will of God, in piety, diligence and self-sacrificing love. Let us prepare for death so that we are not surprised. Let’s not let our loved ones die without the sacrament of the sick, without Holy Communion, God’s food for the journey to eternity. This is one of the main family responsibilities. When we fulfilled it, we became our dearest benefactors. From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, Lord! Darkness has come, but Jesus is light. He dies, but he gives life. And he cries triumphantly: “It is finished!” We too will die. What testimony will the years of marriage, family, childhood give us? Blessed is he who will be able to exclaim: It is perfect, it was perfect according to the will of God, in piety, diligence and self-sacrificing love. Let us prepare for death so that we are not surprised. Let’s not let our loved ones die without the sacrament of the sick, without Holy Communion, God’s food for the journey to eternity. This is one of the main family responsibilities. When we fulfilled it, we became our dearest benefactors. From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, Lord! it was perfect according to the will of God, in piety, diligence and self-sacrificing love. Let us prepare for death so that we are not surprised. Let’s not let our loved ones die without the sacrament of the sick, without Holy Communion, God’s food for the journey to eternity. This is one of the main family responsibilities. When we fulfilled it, we became our dearest benefactors. From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, Lord! it was perfect according to the will of God, in piety, diligence and self-sacrificing love. Let us prepare for death so that we are not surprised. Let’s not let our loved ones die without the sacrament of the sick, without Holy Communion, God’s food for the journey to eternity. This is one of the main family responsibilities. When we fulfilled it, we became our dearest benefactors. From sudden and unexpected death, deliver us, Lord!

A sick man in his prime in a hospital bed says to a nurse: “Please inject me with something, I don’t want to live anymore. I can’t do it anymore, I can’t control it!” The nurse will return in a moment, holding a cross in her hands. “Please take it in your hands.” The man looks surprised at the sister, at the cross and closes his eyes. Tears are streaming down his face. “Thank you, nurse!”
She takes him in her hands. They are shaking. After a while he gets satisfied. The pain didn’t stop. The sight of the cross told him more than anything else.

How many of us have the cross given hope, certainty, strength to suffer, endure shame, misunderstanding, rejection, failure or personal downfall. We understand that Christ on the cross is given to us as a gift.

Let’s look at the cross. Let’s accept him. Let’s learn what Jesus wants to tell us. Even those who do not know or cannot speak can understand his speech. The sight of it will calm even those who have forgotten about it. The cross of Christ is a sign of salvation for all.

Our testimony of life is based on the resurrection of Jesus.

Has anyone told you that they need you? How did you react? Surely now you are thinking that it depended on who said it and what they required, whether you had the desire and courage or willingness to help, and so on. And now let’s ask ourselves a different question: Have you already told someone that you require him? The reactions were different. Whether he was disappointed or pleased, complied or not… It is always important to respect a person’s freedom.
God has needed each of us since the creation of man. God created us without us, and he also redeemed us without us, but we each decide freely: how, when, and in what way we will give an answer to God. We also have the experience that we needed God. Have we experienced disappointment?
For almost two thousand years, the Church has been commemorating the greatest event of humanity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and even today one can hear questions: Why do most people today not know everything about Christ? Why, when Christ is God, are there disproportionately more people who do not accept him and do not believe in him? Jesus said to the women who came to his tomb at dawn on the first day after the Sabbath had passed: “Go, tell…” (Mt 28:10).

An unfinished idea? Not! We have known for two thousand years what he said to the women Mary Magdalene and another Mary at the empty tomb. We also know what the angel said to the women. We also know about other events, things that not only Jesus Christ and after him the apostles and the Church as a Teacher said. The words “go and announce” (Mt 28:10) want to remind us of something more. And what should it be? And why? The liturgy of today’s vigil also leads us to this.
The liturgical year, from the First Sunday of Advent to the Sunday of Christ the King, year after year fulfills the words with which Jesus addressed the apostles: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Mt 28,18-20). Tonight, he especially wants to remind us of God’s love. Outside the church, after sunset, the priest lit the paschal candle, which represents Jesus Christ, from the fire. On it is A (alpha) and (omega) and a year, which reminds us that Christ is the same yesterday and today. He is the Beginning and the End, the Lord of time and eternity. To him belong glory and power forever and ever. He further reminds us, that Jesus, because of his holy and glorified wounds, protects and preserves us in his love after his resurrection and wants to banish the darkness from our hearts and minds. This is emphasized by the procession to the dark church when the priest addresses the faithful three times in a row with the words: “Christ, the light of the world,” – to which the answer is: “Thank God” and there is always more and more light in the church from the candles that are held, which they symbolize our awareness of responsibility to fulfill what Jesus asks of us. With the Easter hymn at the Easter candle in the middle of the presbytery, the priest recalls the joy of the angels and the glorified in heaven, how they rejoice over the victory of Christ. The earth and the Church on it are again to be irradiated like a temple by light when it is illuminated after dark. Why rejoice? Today we remember that Jesus, as the second Adam, canceled the sentence of condemnation for the first sin with his blood. The hymn contains the words, which we recall in the next part by reading from the texts of Scripture. Seven readings from the Old and two from the New Testaments gradually remind us how God cared for and protected people, and how he finally sent his Son as Redeemer, which Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection.
God does not force but invites and appeals to us not only to accept, but also to address his words of love towards us humans when he reminds us that he created the world, he led his people through prophets, leaders, and kings, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. He brought his people out of Egypt and led them through the sea that swallowed up their persecutors, thus proving his love and power to the nation. He cares for his people when he sends manna in the desert and causes water to flow from the rock. He is with his people when he pleads with them, even when he has to punish them with snakes in the desert. God gives many commands to the nation, especially the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. He prepared the land for the people into which he led them.
After the readings from the Old Testament, the liturgy of the Easter vigil takes on an even more joyous character. When singing “Glory to God in the highest”, not only the organ sounds, the bells ring, but also the candles on the altar are lit. Reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans is like an entry into new times, which is deepened by the subsequent hallelujah, which is deliberately omitted during Lent, so that we can live this hallelujah more today, realize its meaning and need in connection with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
The liturgy of baptism reminds us of our baptism. Litany to all saints, where we remember the brothers and sisters who were able to live baptism with their lives, and therefore the Church rewarded them for their faithful life to God by being models for us on the way to God. The sanctification of baptismal water and the renewal of baptismal vows are a reminder, a call, and an address to us: “Go, tell” (Mt 28:10) to everyone how much God loves us.
Today’s Holy Mass, celebrated after Good Friday, is also a challenge and an appeal that participation in the Holy Mass on Sunday and in the prescribed holiday is a church command given by God so that we have the possibility of greater contact with God until the end of time. It is right that believers use the end of Lent to make holy confessions so that they can also participate in the Eucharist during the Easter celebration, which they receive with benefit.

Have you ever seen a Chinese rose? They say it only blooms for one day. One may ask: Why so short? Someone remarked that the most beautiful flower blooms the shortest. What are eighty or one hundred years of life? It is not a flower that cannot be replaced by anything or anyone. However, he has to fulfill his task and mission in such a way as to fulfill the will of God. We live only once. However, we live in such a way that we prove with our lives that we are aware of our responsibility for every thought, word, and deed, but also for everyone whom the Lord sends in our way.

The child asks her mother: “Why don’t we get presents at Easter like at Christmas?” The believing mother did not hesitate and gave her daughter the following answer: “We get a present at Christmas because the Baby Jesus is born. On Easter, the Child Jesus is already a man, the Son of God, and he is rightfully waiting for a gift from us. And it is beautiful when, while singing “hallelujah”, we feel the desire in our hearts to give ourselves to God the Father as a brother or sister of Jesus Christ together with him.”

Jesus died for us only once. That was enough because his love cannot be compared even if we compared it to scales when we would put the love of all people, of all time, on the second plate. That’s because Jesus is the true God. This obliges us to fill our hearts more and more with gratitude and love for His love, which He proved by His death and resurrection. His resurrection thus becomes a guarantee that when we live and die with him, we will also be resurrected with him to a new life.
One Slovak folk song sings: Where are my young days… The years fly by. Even Easter alternates with Easter. Each is a gift from God. Let’s use this year’s opportunity to fulfill what God asks of us.

They parted after the Easter Vigil. In the neighboring village, there was already fun that night, although tomorrow is the day – Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord. A friend called her: “Come, it’s not fasting anymore.” She didn’t go. When she asked her mother in the afternoon if she could go out for fun after the vigil, she got the answer: “Don’t worry, you won’t miss anything. Come home and live the biggest church holiday spiritually. Get some sleep, and you’ll be able to go to the fun in a week.” Even though she was a little upset, she knew that her friend would go, so she obeyed her mother. In the morning, on the way to church, she learned that her friend was in the hospital. They were returning on foot and someone hit them with a car and ran away.

The Church does not prevent anyone from having fun today. However, we will experience Easter Sunday more spiritually. Let the Easter “hallelujah” ring out in the spirit of Jesus’ peace in our hearts. God has prepared many gifts for us. He needs us to enjoy them more and know how to share them with others. Let us not disappoint the risen Christ.

The military unit has fallen into a trap. They all perished. However, one of them wrote the words on a piece of paper with his blood: Goodbye, mother! The paper with the words got into the hands of the mother, who looked at them with love every day. It was then that she felt the closeness and love of her son.

Today, Maundy Thursday, the Church remembers the events when the moment came for Jesus to leave this world, to return to the Father and decide to bestow gifts on people – the sacraments of the priesthood and the Eucharist, but also the new bloodless sacrifice, the Holy Mass. We know why Jesus did all this. To remind everyone of his love and become a source of grace until the end of time.

It reminds us of St. John, who was the closest of the apostles to Jesus that evening: “Because he loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the extreme” (Jn 13:1).

Let’s try to properly understand tonight and the gifts that Jesus left us when he said goodbye to the apostles. There has never been such a person on earth who said goodbye to his own with such great and pure love as Jesus in the supper room. Jesus proves his love to people, although the apostles did not realize it at the time. Jesus redeems the world consciously and voluntarily out of love. He alone knows “that his hour has come to depart from this world to the Father” (Jn 13:1). Jesus is a man of action. The apostles are surprised. And Judas, who decided to hand Jesus over to the enemies that night. As a servant, Jesus does what slaves do: he takes off his clothes, takes an apron, pours water into the basin and goes from one apostle to another, who are disturbed by the behavior of Jesus, surprised because he is washing their feet. Only Peter objects. Only when Jesus explains the matter to him: “Now you still do not understand what I am doing, but later you will understand… If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me” (Jn 13:7,8), Peter gives his consent. Jesus is preparing those to whom he wants to hand over power that nothing in the world can match so that as priests they can continue in humility and love in the service of Jesus to his brothers and sisters. “I have given you an example, so that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).
This is how the last evening of Christ before his death began. It was the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, when Jewish families gather at the table, where, according to the old custom, the youngest turns to the head of the family, to the father, with the question: “What kind of custom is this?” And he receives the answer that it is a memory of the events when the nation received freedom in Egypt (cf. Ex 12:26-27). John himself likely asked Jesus this question at dinner. Here begins the new era of Passover – the transition. Every year, those who believe in Jesus as Redeemer and Savior, remember the institution of the Eucharist on this day. What we are doing today is an anamnesis or a liturgy of history. It is the sacrament that actualizes the event. This mystery was not invented by man, but Jesus established it with the words: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Jn 11:24). Years, but also weeks and days, revolve around these events as around an axis. It is a Passover memorial in three rhythms. In the daily life – as noted by St. Augustine – it is the “daily Passover”. When the Church daily offers the sacrifice of the Holy Mass. In a weekly rhythm, the Church remembers the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus every Sunday. And in the rhythm of the year, when we celebrate the events of Easter every year.
Preparation for Easter has its parts where secrets, things, and events are remembered. Since the earliest times, Easter has been celebrated in the Church as the peak of spiritual life, when Lent ends as preparation and when Easter is followed by the sending of the Holy Spirit.
The Maundy Thursday event also highlights the fact that the establishment of the Sacrament of the Altar, the Sacrament of the Priesthood, and the celebration of the Holy Mass end the Old Testament, which is no longer needed. Jesus establishes a new sacrifice, his body, and blood under the ways of bread and wine. Old Testament sacrifices, sacrifices, incense offerings, bloody and non-bloody give way to the greatest sacrifice, when Jesus commissions the apostles and through them, all the priests with the words: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Jn 11:24). God’s new food transforms people into Christ himself. A new sacrifice replaces the old one, brought by a new priest. The Levites become unnecessary, they have fulfilled their mission, just as Melchizedek fulfilled it, and became the herald of the new perfect sacrifice. A new priest “sacrifice” of unification and sacrifice arose. The sacrifice of the Holy Mass acquires clearer features of connection with God. He becomes an eternal sacrifice, which is performed by priests chosen from among the people and endowed with power from Christ to transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ for all people. The sacrifice of the Holy Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, where he sacrifices himself in a visible way through the priests in bread and wine. Only the priest can say: “This is my body”… “This is my blood” in the sense that the bread becomes the body and the wine the blood of Christ.
We are experiencing exactly what happened at the Last Supper for the first time. In the spirit of faith in the Holy Mass, we celebrate the death of Christ as he himself established it.
Tonight, we feel sad that this gift of love is often not received properly by many. Such an analogy can be used.

Have you ever met a homeless person? You were about to say something to him when he walked past you obliviously. He only stops at the trash can. He wallows in it until he pulls out a discarded piece of hard bread, which he wipes with dirty paper and begins to eat with gusto. You go to him, you want to give him a few crowns to buy a fresh one, but he just looks at you and won’t accept the money. Someone who watches it with you will remark: He is a sick man.

Isn’t our age also sick? He suffers from a lack of love and other natural and supernatural values. And what do we see? When the Church offers her the values ​​that we experience in this Holy Week, not only do they not accept them, but they even feel insulted. And yet we know that Jesus died for all without distinction. It is a memento for the Catholic Christian to be more aware of the meaning and magnitude of the Maundy Thursday gifts, to understand them more, and to accept them for his own benefit. This undoubtedly historic evening should open people’s eyes to understand why Jesus instituted these sacraments and commanded them to celebrate the Holy Mass.

We know that the Jews did not pronounce the name of their God. Pagans, on the other hand, give their gods various special names. We say about God: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Rightly so because he proved it with his word and deed. He is eternal, infinite, true Love.

A friend who could not come to terms with the teachings of the Catholic Church about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist came to a religious friend and asked: ”
How is it possible that the bread is transformed into the body of Christ and the wine into his blood?”
The friend tells him:
“When you’re the body can turn the food you take into muscles, tissues, blood and others, why can’t God who created man do it?” But the
friend continued: “And how can he be whole, infinite, great, and eternity in such a small piece of bread, God?”
“Look,” the friend continued to explain, “there are big trees around you, even whole mountains, and the starry sky you are looking at will appear in your eye, on your retina, which about them is so she had. Why couldn’t God, Jesus Christ, be present in the Eucharist?”
The friend took out a mirror from his coat and told his friend to look into it. Then he threw it on the ground and the mirror broke into several pieces. Then he said to him:
“When you look, you see your face in every part of the mirrors, even the smallest ones. Do not be surprised because Christ is fully and simultaneously present, wherever the Eucharist is celebrated or preserved.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus said goodbye to the apostles and once more at the ascension, not because we will never see him again. He remained present among us in the Eucharist, and we will see him one day at his coming, when he comes as our Judge. It is up to us not to betray him, not to put him aside, not to exchange him for anything… He wants us to receive him often, to visit him, to live with him.

Until then, every person – redeemed by Christ on the cross – must prove his loyalty to him. The mother not only keeps her son’s letter – written in his blood – but when she looks at it and takes it in her hands, she feels his presence. The Eucharistic Christ is a living God, and that is why even today we accept him as he wants, because we believe that at his second coming we will see him forever face to face