Where do we stand when Jesus is crucified? The scene on Good Friday is recreated around us in small ways every day. When someone at school is ridiculed, hurt or excluded, what do we do? Do we help pound in the nails? Stand in the crowd and jeer? Walk on by, pretending not to see? Watch silently, afraid to take action? Stand at Jesus’ side in solidarity? Or do we have the courage to challenge the tormenters?
We don’t need to pound in nails to contribute to another’s suffering. “The bystander effect” is a name for what happens when observers stay silent while another is being hurt. People who have been the target of abuse of any kind report that bystanders’ silence can be as painful as the ridicule or violence itself.
Jesus refused to be a bystander. When a man shrieked during a Sabbath service, Jesus addressed him. When people were sick and in pain, he spoke to them and touched them.
When his disciples didn’t get the message, he came back at them and explained again. When it came time to go to Jerusalem, he set his face toward certain death.
Jesus knew who he was and where he was going. He found strength and clarity through prayer. Before he began his public ministry, Jesus spent 40 days alone in the desert. When he was exhausted he went away and took time to pray. The night before he died Jesus needed time alone to find the strength for the ordeal ahead.
Finding our own authority can be difficult. Many outside forces tug at us. Our friends, our families, our teachers, the media, our plans for the future, the people we’re dating — all shape us.
People in our lives have expectations. They have opinions about how we should handle our time, what we should say and not say, what priorities we should hold. But no matter how much family and friends love us, they can’t BE us. Ultimately, they can’t make our important decisions for us.
We need to listen to those around us. Often they can see opportunities or pitfalls that we might miss. But we also need to listen to the quiet voice within us, the voice that comes from God.
For a long time, Christie seemed to stand alone. The powerful message from her mother was: Don’t rock the boat. It’s no big deal. But Christie listens to the voice within and takes the first steps toward health for herself and her baby sister. She will not be a bystander any longer to her own pain or to her sister’s neglect. Christie is an ordinary kid who refuses to be silent, who has the courage to confront the injustice she experiences in her own living situation.
Jesus looked like an ordinary carpenter’s son wandering dusty roads, preaching in small towns and hilltops. Yet he challenged oppressive spirits, blindness, arrogance, disease, hardheartedness, and even death. His life transformed the world.
As Christians we are called to follow Jesus’ example. Opportunities surround us to speak up against all injustice or be silent, to stand in solidarity or join in harassment. What will we do?
Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #1935