Newsroom (12/04/2025 19:16, Gaudium Press) In the account of the painful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most striking aspects is the union of all the wicked when they encounter the incarnate High Good. The Gospel mentions, for example, that “on that day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, for before they had been enemies” (Lk 23:12), causing us a spontaneous movement of surprise and indignation. Old personal feuds over political issues were ended by the condemnation of the Savior. It’s a rule of history that finds its paradigm here: the bad, even if hostile to each other, always join forces when confronting the good.
Evil joined forces to kill our Lord.
It is true that Pilate did not act out of hatred for Jesus and did not treat him with vulgar contempt, as Herod did, but out of fear of displeasing Caesar; and that in Herod, mixed with curiosity, the feeling of envy predominated. It is certain, however, that they united against the Man-God when their paths crossed. In the same way, voluntarily or involuntarily, they allied themselves with the Sanhedrin, against whom, however, they both harbored old disagreements and enmities.
This teaches us how disagreements between the wicked do not usually reach great depths of soul, a circumstance highlighted by the famous comment made by Clemenceau, the astute and anticlerical French statesman at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th: “two men, however much enemies they may be, will unite in complicity if they frequent the identical houses of tolerance.” We can infer from this statement that, on the contrary, their hatred of the good, especially when it appears with great splendor, is inextinguishable, and both enter into a conspiracy to destroy it.
Among the wicked, there are degrees of perversity that lead to indecision or slowness. When Our Lord was before Herod, “the chief priests and the teachers of the Law were present and accused him with insistence” (Lk 23:10); when Pilate doubted, once again “the chief priests made many accusations against Jesus” (Mk 15:3), pressuring the governor with fallacious arguments. Finally, when it was proposed that Jesus be released, “the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would release Barabbas” (Mk 15:11) and so the people insisted, shouting “with all their might, asking that he be crucified. And their shouting grew louder and louder” (Lk 23:23). Their hysteria didn’t subside until the Divine Prisoner was delivered “to their will” (Lk 23:25).
Hatred of the wicked, indifference of the good
At such times, unfortunately, many of those who consider themselves virtuous don’t embrace the side of good with decision and courage, thus allowing the domination of evil to expand. “This is your hour and the power of darkness” (Lk 22:53), the Savior lamented at the moment of his arrest, without anyone among those closest to him effectively defending him. Many of those who had acclaimed Jesus at the entrance to Jerusalem with boughs and shouts, for not having adhered deeply to the Good, were later among the vociferous crowd voting for Barabbas.
We don’t find it hard to admit that, in the mob demanding our Lord’s condemnation, there was someone to whom he had restored sight, and who didn’t react to the infamous spectacle; another to whom he had restored hearing and speech, and who listened to those blasphemies without raising his voice to protest; yet another to whom he had cured of paralysis, and who had walked there only to satisfy his unhealthy curiosity, watching unmoved the suffering of those who had benefited him. Perhaps many people didn’t want Our Lord to be crucified, but because they allowed themselves to be influenced by the evil ones, they ended up participating in the worst crime ever committed in history. All of them, however, were indifferent, if not hostile to the Divine Master. To prevent ourselves from going astray, whether on the path of lukewarmness and indifference or the path of ingratitude and betrayal, we must make steady progress on the paths of holiness and cultivate our indignation at the bold advance of those who refuse Jesus. Whenever the good does not enter the paths of radicalism, evil gets the better of them.
Here we must remove one objection regarding the virtue of humility: isn’t it better and more in line with Our Lord’s teachings for the good to be humble and resigned? The answer is yes when it comes to insults done to ourselves. However, it is not correct if the target of the unjust aggression is sacred things, the Holy Catholic Church, or some innocent person. In such a case, to remain passive is to repeat the attitude of those who watched the sufferings of Jesus Christ with indifference[1].
Our Lord’s example of stripping himself and accepting all the insults for our salvation is sublime. At the same time, however, we need to learn the lesson that, in certain circumstances, indifference can be a greater sin than hatred. The opposite would be true of someone who, having been robbed by a thief in their own home, watched with indifference and arms folded at the worst aggressions against their closest family members. Would this attitude befit a good father, son, or husband? So, in the Passion of Our Lord, what is most striking is not the fury of the enemies, but the indifference of the good. This is an aspect that has been forgotten, although it is of the utmost importance, and we must remember it today.
Our Lord was defeating evil.
The indifferent and the lukewarm, claiming to belong to the good, were so blinded by their attitude that they didn’t realize that Our Lord, on his Way of Sorrow, was achieving the greatest of triumphs. Even the adversaries of the good, their eyes clouded with hatred, did not realize that they were hastening their own downfall. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55), the Apostle asks defiantly. By dying on the Cross, the Divine Redeemer defeated not only death but also evil, and left a divine, immortal institution founded on a firm rock – the Holy Catholic Church, his Mystical Body, and the source of all graces – which weakened and hindered the action of the serpent race, depriving it of the overwhelming and dictatorial power it had exercised over the ancient world.
We are delighted to know that the apparent catastrophe of Our Lord’s Passion and Death marks the irremediable and resounding defeat of Satan. The latter, instilling the worst torments against Jesus, deluded himself into thinking that he was heading for an extraordinary success against the incarnate Good. In his madness, he didn’t realize how he was contributing to the glorification of the Son of God and the work of Redemption.
What glory, what triumph, what glory our Lord Jesus Christ had achieved with his Passion! What humiliation in hell, crushed by the error of ignoring the invincible power of Good!
Extracted, with adaptations, from: CLÁ DIAS, João Scognamiglio. The unpublished Gospels: commentaries on the Sunday Gospels. Città del Vaticano-São Paulo: LEV-Instituto Lumen Sapientiæ, 2012, v. 5, p. 262-265.
[1] Cf. TOMÁS DE AQUINO, Suma Teológica, II-II, q. 188, a. 3, ad 1.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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