Summary: It all began with a breath, that moment of human awakening. Adam breathes in, and there is life, and it is good. Then in a moment it is finished. Paradise is lost by one decision. Yet while it may be finishsed, it is not over. Then a new Adam breathes out, and says: “It is finished.” But, it is not over. Both of them breathe love. What began in Genesis is not finished. What began there was that love should give birth to love. So it was that through the Word, the first Adam came to be; but because he did not love, the Word became the second Adam who bore the fruits of all the Adams and Eves who have not loved. Here at the cross, the great work is finished. Here is the one person who did and who was through the centuries what the rest of us failed to do and be. Quite simply and wonderfully, he loved the Father, and the Father loved him.It all began with a breath, and it ends with a breath. It is finished, but it is not over. He who breathes his last still breathes once more upon us. At the moment of salvation when love is at its best, he breathes out, so that we may breathe in that love, that life, that Spirit he “hands over”, as John says it in his Passion narrative: “He handed over his spirit.”Creation begins again. Those who have not loved receive the breath of love. It is as though we take a deep breath to sing out the hymn of creation in praise and honor of the very God whose love is never withheld even from the countless Adams and Eves who have failed to love and to live. It is never a love that is earned or give like a reward. It is a love that is pure and simple, granted as grace to every Adam and every Eve who have stepped foot in this garden God has entrusted to us.A story is told of Peter who is finally in heaven looking around. Suddenly he sees Judas walking toward the gates. Judas has a box. In the box is rooster. Peter says, “You have no business here.” Judas opens the box, and the two look at one another and both begin to weep. Their tears however are tears of joy, not shame or sadness, and two sinners embrace. Because the Spirit has breathed upon Peter the breath of life and life-giving grace, Peter can breathe upon Judas and everyother Judas and find what is sometimes simply too much to imagine: total forgiveness and mercy.So, as I said, it all began with a breath. One breathes in, and the other breaths out. When Jesus breathes his last and says: “It is finished” he does not mean it is over. It simply means he has given over his spirit to the rest of us who shall in a moment stand at the foot of the cross. We have courage to do it now, when we might not have had the courage to do it then because we have inhaled the breath of His Spirit.This age in which we live does not see what we see in the cross, and so it looks the other way. The cheap and popular Gospel of these days proclaims a life of leasure, pleasure, and wealth, of comfort and satisfaction. It runs from and hides the cross turing it into a piece of jewlery. Suffering is to be avoided all costs, like the flu. The Passion and death of Christ is romanticized with pastel colors, Easter Bunnies, colored eggs, and sentimental tunes with all the depth of a country/western balad.It cannot be so for us. He died, a bloody, terrible death innocent and without sin. As Paul says, “It is Christ crucified that we preach.” He suffered becasue we will not. He died because we pretent that there is no death, while making idols of youthfulness and youthful beauty never seeing the face of God in an old man or woman whose life has been spent in loving sacrifice. This world still needs the cross and what it says about love and commitment, service and obedience to God’s will. We cannot run from the cross We may not hide in churches that will not display nor sit beneath a crucifix it humbled by its message.The last breath of Jesus is not the last beath of life because you and I have inhaled once again the breath of his spirit. It is not over. The Passion of Christ began with a kiss from Judas, a sinner. This liturgy will end a few minutes with a kiss at the foot of a cross: a kiss from sinners who live with the hope that the cross offers all whole will repent, take up their cross and follow the one who has handed over to us his spirit.“Come, follow me.” is how discipleship begins, and this Good Day reveals where he is leading us.......into the mystery of God’s love where God will once again breathe life into us.
