Scripture Reflections for Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Year B, Lectionary 40


As Jesus hanged on the cross we are meant to meditate on this event. On how we contribute to his crucifixion with our actions of hate and with our failure to act for justice. On how God willingly came to serve us all the way to the cross, all the while offering love and forgiveness. We all journey to the cross with Jesus but we can either be condemning him, preoccupied with his possessions, or at the side of the cross with him.

Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: AccompanyAdamCareCommunityConciliationContemplateControlCovenantCreationCrossDeathDiscipleEconomyEveFaithFearFollowForgiveGuiltHealingHelplessHoly SpiritHopeJourneyJoyJusticeKingdomLambLightLoveMemoryMercyNakedNonviolencePassionPeacePrayerPriestProphecyRacismReconciliationRepentResurrectionSacrificeSalvationSilenceSimon of CyreneSinSufferingTempleTruthWaterWisdomWitnessWorth

Isaiah 52:13-15, 53:1-12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-40, 19:1-42
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston, MA • Mar 29 ʼ24

“He is looking for those who are going to stop and lend their hearts, their souls, the whole of their being to the project at hand which is to bring healing to the whole human race”


Fr. Oscar Pratt
Catholic Productions • Apr 11 ʼ17

“if Jesus' body is the temple and the side of his body from which the blood and water flows point us to the side of the temple mount, then where is the altar? Right? Well, the altar then would be his sacred heart.”


Brant Pitre in "The Blood & Water from the Side of Christ"
Holy Name of Jesus Church & Loyola Ministry • Apr 07 ʼ23

“he says 'come to me. Come to me naked and unashamed. Come to me completely as you are because you were made in my image. And you are mine and I love you.”


Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ in "Naked on the Cross"
St. Teresa of Avila - DC • Apr 07 ʼ23

“one of the signs we may need to look to is 'words may be great but silence is golden'”


Monsignor Raymond East
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, Philadelphia • Apr 02 ʼ21

“if you want this Church to be around long after I'm gone, he's gone, you're gone, we got to show that love for each other and build up this faith family”


Fr. Stephen Thorne in "Guilt"
Apr 11 ʼ22

“the greek word 'basileia' usually translated as 'kingdom' does not refer to a particular geographical or political entity that we could locate on a map...it is rather an authority under which people live”


Fr. Geoffrey Plant in "None of his bones shall be broken"
Catholic Women Preach • Apr 14 ʼ17

“many experienced thirst, hunger and lack of basic needs but knowing that we were persecuted because of our belief gave us power and hope in the Cross”


Luma Khuder, OP
Catholic Women Preach • Apr 13 ʼ19

“In Jesus Christ, God invites us to join in his mission of love by standing close to those in pain and suffering. By bearing with them their silent cries, their cross, their darkness and by joining in their fight against injustice and abuse”


Karolin Kuhn SSND
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston MA • Apr 15 ʼ22

“Who among us hasn't needed a friend to wipe our faces clean of the blood and the sweat and the tears that we sometimes shed?”


Fr. Eric Immel, SJ
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish - Boston MA • Apr 10 ʼ20

“And when our standard is built upon mercy, is built upon grace, gold can run out, mercy cannot. Dollars can be burnt away but grace is eternal.”


Fr. Oscar Pratt
Catholic Women Preach • Mar 31 ʼ20

“Good Friday is clearly about deep, faithful, steadfast, merciful love. Jesus shows us how to love. To love like God. Jesus' whole life and ministry and death show us how to love. The question is what do we do with so great a love?”


Joan S. Dawber, SC
St. Teresa of Avila - DC • Apr 15 ʼ22

“That's the message of the day for us. To stand as the women stood and to speak as Joseph of Arimathea spoke”


Deacon Timothy E. Tilghman
Apr 15 ʼ22

“The Son of God in all his glory came all the way down into our humiliation, into our physical suffering, into our fear of death...so that now we know even in our worst fears that we are accompanied by the divine love”


Bishop Robert Barron in "The Cross"
UACatholic • Apr 10 ʼ20

“Love is a very scary thing, people of God. It opens you and I up. It heals. It breaks down the toughest barrier. It's something that always is a balm, not a bomb, but a balm. We can rub into any situation that is impossible. It helps us to find perspective and healing”


Fr. John Paul Forté, OP
Apr 10 ʼ20

“Don't domesticate the cross. Don't turn the cross into a harmless pious religious symbol but let it display itself in all of its judging and taunting and finally liberating power”


Bishop Robert Barron
Apr 03 ʼ21

“If the cross means all the negativity we can imagine, it means the limit of suffering, it means the limit of sin, it means all of human dysfunction, Jesus took that on and then broke its power”


Bishop Robert Barron
Overall Readings
Mar 18 ʼ24

“The ruler of this world has been vanquished and Jesus the sacrificial Lamb of God has won this victory on the cross. He has taken away the sin of the world.”


Fr. Geoffrey Plant in "It is finished"
Catholic Women Preach • Mar 29 ʼ24

“He resisted the dehumanization of this system by recognizing each person as being made in the image and likeness of his beloved Abba and he acted accordingly. For him, this was God’s law written on his heart and his life testified to this truth.”


Leslye Colvin
St. Teresa of Avila - DC • Mar 29 ʼ24

“our God speaks through the silence. Did you notice how many times in St. John’s Passion that Jesus was silent before his accusers?”


Monsignor Raymond East
Catholic Women Preach • Apr 07 ʼ23

“Were you there when love costs everything? What is the cost of true love? A question asked on this Good Friday. What is genuine 'no holds barred' passion?”


Sr. Melinda Adrienne Pellerin, ssj
Apr 07 ʼ23

“through our sin we were there. Through our love for God we were there. Yes, even through our ongoing connection as the body of Christ we were there when they crucified our Lord.”


Fr. Tony Ricard
Catholic Women Preach • Mar 30 ʼ18

“Good Friday reminds us that Jesus' life exemplified just actions and the love for everyone especially the least of these”


Kimberly Lymore
Catholic Women Preach • Apr 15 ʼ22

“I walk in the promise that by his stripes we are healed. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so for we are truly not just a Good Friday people. We are Easter redeemed people.”


Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, OPA
Catholic Women Preach • Apr 02 ʼ21

“Isaiah's imagery holds us because the Servant's suffering is our suffering too. In it we can feel seen, validated, embraced by this key text of salvation history”


María Teresa (MT) Dávila