I’m going to make a confession…
I don’t like admitting I’m wrong.
I don’t like needing help.
I don’t like being reminded of my weakness.
And if I had to guess, most of us feel this way.
We’d rather be strong…self-sufficient…in control.
And yet — Good Friday places before us what seems as the opposite of that.
Because what we see in the Passion… isn’t control and power.
It’s humility.
The prophet Isaiah started with a startling image: “See, my servant shall prosper… he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.”
And then that exaltation is revealed through humiliation. The Servant’s “marred beyond human semblance,” “despised and rejected,” a “man of suffering.”
Isaiah continues:
“He was spurned and avoided… one of those from whom people hide their faces.”
There’s nothing impressive here.
No strength. No beauty. No control.
Just weakness and surrender.
It’s Jesus allowing Himself to be handed over.
Good Friday confronts us with Our Lord, because like the Jews, he’s not what we expect.
We think of God as someone who wins, dominates, crushes our enemies with power and might.
Instead… we’re given a God who humbles Himself. All the way to the Cross.
That’s by choice.
Jesus isn’t a victim of circumstance—caught in political tension, betrayed by friends, condemned by a weak governor.
No, he chooses all of this.
In Gethsemane, when they come to arrest Him, they ask for Jesus of Nazareth.
And He responds—not simply, “Over here or I’m the one you're looking for.”
He says: “I AM.”
That’s the very name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. The divine name.
And at that moment—John tells us—they draw back… and fall to the ground.
Why?
Because for a second… the veil’s pulled back.
They’re standing in the presence of God.
Not a victim. Not just a man.
But the great “I AM.”
The One who spoke creation into existence. The One before whom every knee should bend.
And yet— they don’t arrest Him because they overpower Him, but because he lets them.
The One who says “I AM”… allows Himself to be bound.
The One who has all authority… submits Himself to human judgment.
The One before whom they fall to the ground… will soon be nailed to a Cross.
All his choice.
That’s humility.
That’s God choosing to go lower than we ever would— not because He has to—but because He loves us.
And in Christ’s humility, he reveals our need for it.
Because Isaiah says something we can’t ignore:
“He was pierced for our offenses… crushed for our sins.”
Not someone else’s.
Ours.
Over the centuries some have blamed the death of Christ on one people – the Jews. But responsibility doesn’t belong to one group… or one moment in history.
The truth’s more uncomfortable than that.
We’re all responsible.
Because Christ didn’t die because of one crowd shouting two thousand years ago—
He died because of sin.
My sin. Your sin. The sins of the whole world.
That means the Cross isn’t about pointing fingers at others.
It’s about honestly looking at ourselves because His wounds … are the wounds of our sins.
And that’s where humility becomes uncomfortable.
Because the truth is— I’m not just an observer of the Cross. I’m part of the reason for it.
And yet, Jesus didn’t go to the Cross reluctantly. He went freely out of love — complete and total love for each one of us.
And if we can humbly admit that, then God can meet us in that humility… with mercy.
Psalm 31 tells us Jesus prays: “Father, Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
That’s surrender. That’s trust.
That’s humility… lived perfectly.
But there’s more.
Because when John tells us that when Jesus’ side’s pierced—blood and water flow out.
Not just a detail, it tells us something important about mercy.
Because just as, in the beginning, Eve was taken from the side of Adam… now the Church is born from the side of Christ.
Even in death, Jesus humbly provides for us.
The water symbolizes Baptism and the blood, the Eucharist.
Meaning the moment of His greatest humility… is the source of our very lives.
When Jesus humbly bows his head and dies, it’s the moment where He gives everything…
The mission’s complete.
The sacrifice is made.
The work of redemption’s done.
His Church is born.
So now— it’s our turn.
Because in just a few moments, something very simple… but very profound’s going to happen.
Each one of us will be invited to come forward…and symbolically venerate the Cross.
Think about that.
We don’t stay where we are.
We come forward.
We bow. We kneel. We touch. And we kiss.
No one will venerate the Cross standing tall and self-sufficient.
You have to lower yourself. You have to approach. You have to admit:
The Cross is for me.
The Cross is my salvation.
The Cross is my hope.
And in turn, God calls us to imitate Christ. To humble ourselves. To love in all circumstances.
Good Friday and the Cross stand before us not only as the day and place where Christ died—but as the day and place where God humbly gives us our lives back and teaches us how to live.
Good Friday is what humility looks like.
And that humility is for you.