The most difficult question facing humanity has not been answered by science and technology. It is the question of human solidarity and togetherness. We live in highly fragmented and divided world, in spite of the lie of the globalization propaganda trying to create an impression of a world-wide unity. Because we are so fragmented, today more than ever the hope of humanity lies in human solidarity and togetherness. The central Christian belief that God has identified His very self with suffering humanity is a hope-conferring truth. The Cross of Christ is the ultimate symbol of this compassion which is the basis of solidarity.
The Cross is the central symbol of Christianity. On Good Friday Christians all over the world venerate the Cross in a solemn way. This is because the Cross has become the supreme expression of compassion, sacrifice and redemption. It reminds us that human life is a struggle. It tells us that to be human is to respond to human suffering with compassion. Ultimately it is not power, but love and compassion that redeem.
Compassion (cum+passio) means "suffering with." It means suffering in solidarity with the needy and the distressed. It is that power in one's heart to love others and suffer with the miseries and pain of others. It means sensitivity, vulnerability to be affected by the sorrows and struggles of others. It is not passive suffering, but active involvement in the life of others and action to alleviate suffering.
Compassion is the basis and bond of solidarity. Allowing oneself to be affected by the pain of others produces solidarity. If suffering does not bring us together, nothing can. Loving-kindness brings human being together and closer. It brings about interconnectedness to experience the other as my brother and sister - an awareness of the human family.
The Cross stands for the compassion of God suffering with us. That body broken and the blood poured out for humanity on the Cross is the body and blood of the compassionate Saviour. Unrestricted and unconditional love moves him to embrace the suffering and wounded humanity. It is the manifestation of his ultimate love for the poor and the downtrodden groaning under the weight of socio-political oppression, economic exploitation and religious legalism. Jesus on the Cross shares their lot to the very end. He was totally poor and wholly outcast. He takes upon himself the suffering humanity and suffers with everyone who is being tortured and crucified on the cross of life. He affects our redemption not by power but by going through intense pain on our behalf. Jesus wanted to help us by sharing our life, our loneliness, our agony and our death. It is by being with us fully that he has redeemed us. He experienced all that we humans go through in life - fear, mental anguish, anxiety, hunger, thirst, rejection, humiliation, persecution, pain and death. Thus he was very near to the crucified people of our time. That is why the suffering masses instinctively find affinity with the suffering Christ on the Cross.
Jesus is the compassion of God made human. Compassion was the heart and soul of his life and mission. All his action emanated from loving kindness. Out of love, he taught people, healed the sick, touched the lepers, cared for women, embraced sinners, wept for the dead. He was a man of deep feeling and sensitivity. His ability to touch human hearts and minds was extraordinary. His heart grieved at the sight of the suffering people and went out to help them. Finally he himself became a prey to the violence and cruelty of human beings. The solidarity with distressed humanity reached its climax on the Cross. And Jesus' death was the most definitive expression of his immense love and compassion for humanity.
The mission of compassion implies struggle. The Cross is the symbol of this struggle. Jesus' life was a life of constant struggle. It begins at birth, continues in his mission and culminates on the Cross. In the Gospels, he is shown in conflict with the evil forces, and with religious and political powers. He is also in conflict with his own instinctive clinging to life and his natural dislike to suffering. In the garden of Gethsemane Calvary , we stand before a man who hangs between heaven and earth. The heaven has apparently forsaken him, for he cries out. "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" The earth has a abandoned him, for all his close friends and the crowd whom he loved so much left him alone at this moment of great agony. While going through mockery, rejection, ridicule and loneliness, he uttered those most sacred words "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Struggle and compassion embrace each other on the Cross. The victory is won. God raises Jesus from the dead. The disciples go through a profound experience that the Crucified Jesus is alive. And this lends us
hope.
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