Ge, N. N. (Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich), 1831-1894. “What is truth?” Christ and Pilate, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55296 [retrieved May 2, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:What_is_truth.jpg.
RCL Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13–53:12, Psalm 22, Hebrews 10:16-25, Saint John 18:1–19:42
Already today there have been so many words that I hesitate to add any more. So my words will be few. But to me, these few words distill all those many words into the essence of what the Lord gives us today.
Today is the Day when every Christian realizes that all that we do, all that we have done, and all that we shall do, come in a distant second to what Christ on the Cross does for us.
Let Saint Paul say to us what he wrote to the Corinthians: “Christ died for our sins.”[1] And let him say to us what he wrote to Saint Timothy: “For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.”[2]
As we realize that Christ has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, all that we can do is empty ourselves, for we have nothing to give in exchange, nothing that is of a comparable value.
It is by being empty that we are able to receive. It is by being empty that we can receive what no one else can give us. The Suffering Servant, the Great Priest, the Lamb of God–for He is all these things–has given us everything. To receive everything, there must be room. We must give Him room.
[1] I Corinthians 15:3.
[2] I Timothy 2:5-6.
hs3rd 
