April 3, 2026
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Lectionary: 40
Reading I: Is 52:13—53:12
See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him —
so marred was his look beyond human semblance
and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man–
so shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.
Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.
Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.
Responsorial Psalm: 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
R. (Lk 23:46) Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
R. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
For all my foes I am an object of reproach,
a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends;
they who see me abroad flee from me.
I am forgotten like the unremembered dead;
I am like a dish that is broken.
R. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
But my trust is in you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my God.
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me
from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.”
R. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
Take courage and be stouthearted,
all you who hope in the LORD.
R. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Reading II: Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Brothers and sisters:
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
In the days when Christ was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Verse Before the Gospel: Phil 2:8-9
Christ became obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.
Gospel: Jn 18:1—19:42
Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley
to where there was a garden,
into which he and his disciples entered.
Judas his betrayer also knew the place,
because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards
from the chief priests and the Pharisees
and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him,
went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”
They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.”
He said to them, “I AM.”
Judas his betrayer was also with them.
When he said to them, “I AM, “
they turned away and fell to the ground.
So he again asked them,
“Whom are you looking for?”
They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.”
Jesus answered,
“I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”
This was to fulfill what he had said,
“I have not lost any of those you gave me.”
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it,
struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear.
The slave’s name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter,
“Put your sword into its scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”
So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,
bound him, and brought him to Annas first.
He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews
that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now the other disciple was known to the high priest,
and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.
But Peter stood at the gate outside.
So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest,
went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.
Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter,
“You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?”
He said, “I am not.”
Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire
that they had made, because it was cold,
and were warming themselves.
Peter was also standing there keeping warm.
The high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his doctrine.
Jesus answered him,
“I have spoken publicly to the world.
I have always taught in a synagogue
or in the temple area where all the Jews gather,
and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me?
Ask those who heard me what I said to them.
They know what I said.”
When he had said this,
one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said,
“Is this the way you answer the high priest?”
Jesus answered him,
“If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong;
but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.
And they said to him,
“You are not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it and said,
“I am not.”
One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
“Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.
Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
It was morning.
And they themselves did not enter the praetorium,
in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and said,
“What charge do you bring against this man?”
They answered and said to him,
“If he were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you.”
At this, Pilate said to them,
“Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”
The Jews answered him,
“We do not have the right to execute anyone,“
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled
that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.
So Pilate went back into the praetorium
and summoned Jesus and said to him,
“Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered,
“Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered,
“I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?”
Jesus answered,
“My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”
So Pilate said to him,
“Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered,
“You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
When he had said this,
he again went out to the Jews and said to them,
“I find no guilt in him.
But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.
Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
They cried out again,
“Not this one but Barabbas!”
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head,
and clothed him in a purple cloak,
and they came to him and said,
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them,
“Look, I am bringing him out to you,
so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
And he said to them, “Behold, the man!”
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out,
“Crucify him, crucify him!”
Pilate said to them,
“Take him yourselves and crucify him.
I find no guilt in him.”
The Jews answered,
“We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God.”
Now when Pilate heard this statement,
he became even more afraid,
and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus,
“Where are you from?”
Jesus did not answer him.
So Pilate said to him,
“Do you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you
and I have power to crucify you?”
Jesus answered him,
“You would have no power over me
if it had not been given to you from above.
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin.”
Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out,
“If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out
and seated him on the judge’s bench
in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.
And he said to the Jews,
“Behold, your king!”
They cried out,
“Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them,
“Shall I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered,
“We have no king but Caesar.”
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself,
he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull,
in Hebrew, Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others,
one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.
It read,
“Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.”
Now many of the Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
“Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’
but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’.”
Pilate answered,
“What I have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,
they took his clothes and divided them into four shares,
a share for each soldier.
They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless,
woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to one another,
“Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, “
in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says:
They divided my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
This is what the soldiers did.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and that they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:
Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says:
They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.
And Pilate permitted it.
So he came and took his body.
Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night,
also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes
weighing about one hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus
and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices,
according to the Jewish burial custom.
Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day;
for the tomb was close by.
Reflection
For this Good Friday, we offer these verses for reflection:
“Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-7)
[1] Born to die so that sins may be forgiven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, on Palm Sunday, He knew that He was going to die by Roman execution on Good Friday. This spells all the difference in the world because He knew how and exactly when He was going to die. He is God and He freely consented to die on the cross like a criminal being ignominiously handed to his executioners. His death was the only way for man to be saved – His life in exchange for our lives because He is the only perfect sacrifice and offering to our God and Father whom we wronged and still continue to wrong by our sins. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, our Lord never opened His mouth to complain, to curse or to give up in protest.
May we always be thankfully to our Lord Jesus because He didn’t give up on us and loved us until the end of His earthly life. He continues to love us even when we continue to sin.
[2] Welcomed one day, rejected in less than a week. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, He was greeted by crowds of people hoisting palms branches, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Palm, the endemic variety to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, was hoisted and waved by people of old to greet a visiting or arriving VIP such as an emperor or king. Some of crowds which greeted Jesus even laid down their cloaks and outer garments so that the donkey on which Jesus was mounted could march on a carpet-like pavement. A greeting and welcome truly fit for the King of kings. They jubilantly shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David”, which affirmed they knew tradition and prophecy which says that anyone who is acknowledged as the son of David is the Messiah sent by God to liberate His people. The title of Son of David truly has deep theological significance for every Jew, past and present, because the Davidic Messiah is one the one who “comes in the name of the Lord” and therefore, is heaven-sent and divine.
Sadly, several days after Palm Sunday, particularly on the day of preparation and the day before the Sabbath, Jesus is being presented by Pilate before a madding crowd who are now shouting “crucify Him, crucify Him”, asking for the condemnation of an innocent man and the freedom instead of the known criminal “Barabbas”, a name which means ‘son of the father.’ The true Son of the Father, our Lord Jesus, was rejected by the crowd which days before was proclaiming: “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit. They chose death instead of life. On Good Friday, the crowd in the Procurator’s Court chose evil over good. Each time we sin, we choose death over life and evil over good. Worst of all, when we sin, we mock the salvation that Jesus won for us on the Cross.
The Good Friday crowd chose Barabbas instead of the true Son of the Father—Jesus. This is man’s continuing folly – choosing evil instead of the good, even when goodness is right in front of us.
[3] Deicide & murder of an innocent man. The crowds on Palm Sunday shouted “Son of Abraham”, “Son of David”, two titles which Jesus, by His human lineage, is justified in claiming because He is indeed descended from Abraham and King David, through Saint Joseph and our Blessed Mother. Jews knew that God’s promised Messiah for the liberation of Israel would come from the line of David. However, it seems that Israel was waiting for a “warrior” and military general type of Messiah who would wage battle against Rome and “restore” the Kingdom of Israel. The Jews, probably to their disappointment, witnessed that Jesus didn’t wage war against Rome. However, they didn’t realize that Jesus waged war against sin and death, and He won that battle for the sake of mankind, and established His new kingdom – the Church. The Jews welcomed their hero on Palm Sunday but crucified the same person on Good Friday. Jesus died for our sins, which means our sins caused His death on the Cross in what could be described as the greatest crime ever committed – the murder of an innocent man who happens to be God Himself; the crime is called Deicide.
- Our sins killed Jesus!
- Jesus died to save us – an innocent man was sacrificed for the guilty and condemned!
- For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son… (John 3:16)!
[4] Jesus: Our Redeemer, Equalizer & Unifier. Physicians who have analyzed the horrific torture wounds of our Lord said that they were no ordinary wounds and it was no ordinary physical suffering. The pain Jesus experience was real and extreme. On top of that, He bore unimaginable heartache and sorrow because of the betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of the rest of the Apostles and most of all, the unthinkable and stupid choice mankind made in the Garden – man chose sin and death over life, and He was the One who had to suffer for it. He paid a debt He did not owe. He was a victim of the greatest injustice in human history. We know that Jesus is the Christ but we still betray Him by our sins.
Despite all these, our Lord still appeals to the Father because He is merciful: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). How many times do we justify our sins by saying that others are more sinful than us, or we had no choice but to sin? For all our flimsy excuses, let us remember that our Lord died for our sins and He was sinless. He never compromised with evil and so must we.
In death, we are all equal because everybody dies and all face God in the end. The question is, how do we want to be remembered after our death? We were supposed to share our life with others by bringing Christ to them. Did we share Christ with others and did we share Him as often as we could? These points and some other ones determine whether we enter everlasting glory or not. Remember what our Lord said: “Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter God’s kingdom. The only people who will enter are those who do what my Father in heaven wants” (Matt 7: 21-23ff).
Jesus, lifted up on the Cross, draws all men to himself. His death is supposed to unify all men, all people, mankind – whether believer or atheist, Christian or not – because Jesus died for all. He created man, became man, died for man to save man and bring back man to Him. There is no greater love than His love because He is God and He died to save us, even when we reject Him. It is only right and just to praise and worship Jesus!
At that moment when our Lord said “It is complete” or “It is finished” (John 19:30), He confirms the completion of His Messianic work and the next word “Father, into thy hands I commend me spirit” (Luke 23:46) is the seal of it all. The salvation plan, which was established since eternity, culminates into perfect conclusion at the intersection of the Cross, where our Lord gave up His life so that man can live forever more. Deo gratias!
Kneeling before Jesus on the Cross, we say: “We Adore You, O Christ, and We Bless You, Because by Your Cross You Have Redeemed the World!”
– Gospel Reflection by Kuya Rommel Cecilio of SLRP Bible Apostolate Ministry