I have a true story for you. A retired priest sat enjoying the afternoon sun. He looked up suddenly to see the newly ordained bishop of the Diocese walking towards him. “Father, may I sit with you a while?” The old priest, delighted, struggled to get up and welcome his distinguished visitor.
The Bishop said, “Father, I’d like to tell you a story. Some years ago, a group of college students who had spent the afternoon drinking were walking past a little church. Confessions were being heard inside. One of them came up with the idea to make a list of the worst things they could think of and confess them. It would be a riot, they thought to see how the priest reacts.
But one of the guys said, “Seeing it’s your idea, put up or shut up. I bet you $20 you haven’t the guts to do it.” Well, the first guy took up the challenge. A list of wild sins was drawn up and he went inside the Reconciliation Room. He came out a few minutes later brandishing a piece of payer. “Pay me!” he said. “Here’s proof that I’ve been to confession.”
The friends asked what the paper was. “It’s my penance.” “Didn’t the priest say anything?”
“Nothing, he just handed me the paper.” “Well, have you done the penance?” “Don’t be silly. I’m not going to do any penance.” “Oh no, we don’t pay off until you do the penance.”
So he went into the church and read the note: Kneel before the cross and repeat 10 times. ‘All this you did for me and I don’t give a damn.’ No problem, the guy thought, and knelt before the crucifix. But he couldn’t do it. He saw the nailed hand and the infinite sadness in the crucified eyes. A half hour later, his friends wondered what had happened to him and went inside. They found him crying like a baby.
The Bishop then said to the old priest, “I wanted to tell you this story because I was that young guy and you were the priest.”
The Passion reading today is from John’s Gospel. On Palm Sunday, we alternate the Passsions between the other gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. In John’s Passion the focus is on the cross. And John doesn’t just see the cross as a symbol of torture but also sees it as a symbol of change, of transformation. The trouble is that we often don’t allow the cross to change us. We are often like the young man in the story, not giving a damn . . . that is, thinking about Good Friday as just another special days in the church, or thinking about the cross as the same ole symbol we seen so often, or even about what Jesus did and it’s for other people.
But the power of the cross is that Jesus died FOR YOU. For you personally. For your hurt, your pain, your apathy, your doubts, your fears.
In a bit, you will be invited to come up and venerate the cross (kiss it, touch it, kneel before it or simply just stand before it) and I challenge you to come up and keep repeating whatever holds you back from being changed, by the cross . . .
“All this you did for me and I don’t give a damn”
‘All this you did for me and I still have my doubts”
‘All this you did for me and I can’t over my hurt”
‘All this you did for me and I still feel so alone”
‘All this you did for me and I have not been faithful”
‘All this you did for me and I have failed to love as best I can”
Bring whatever it is . . . the cross. Let your attitude, your pain, your confusion, your anger or your pain meet up with a Jesus who did what he did on the cross because of his love for you. YOU! To be tortured, to suffer a slow agonizing death, to give up his last breath . . . for you.
Try it, choose whatever it is that holds you back, keep repeating it to yourself:
“All this you did for me and I don’t give a damn”
“All this you did for me and I still have my doubts”
“All this you did for me and I can’t over my hurt”
“All this you did for me and I still feel so alone”
“All this you did for me and I have not been faithful”
“All this you did for me and I have failed to love as best I can”