Good Friday

"By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock.  The light from the sun was gone.  And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.  Then Jesus shouted, "Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!"  And with those words he breathed his last."  Luke 23:44-46

Behold the man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders,

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there,

Until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me life.

I know that it is finished.

...

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer.

But this I know with all my heart,

His wounds have paid my ransom!

(How Deep the Father's Love For Us)

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.  We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.  We are no longer slaves to sin.  For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

Romans 6:5-7



It seems almost sacrilegious to call this day "good" Friday. 

Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
 ³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”   Matthew 26:38-39

⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” Matthew 26:67 - 68

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.      Matthew 27:27-31

¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.   
John 19:17-18

Such awful cruelty I can't even imagine.  I've heard this story so many times that I've almost become numb to the brutality of it.  Honestly, I don't like to think about it.  I love to thank Him for his sacrifice, but I focus on the good that resulted, not the actual event.

But on this day, I have to think about it, to feel it.  And I am amazed at how horrible people can be, that they would do this to anyone, much less the savior of the world.  I shudder to think what part I would have played had I lived then.  I grieve for Jesus' mother and family as they had to watch their loved one die, their hopes crushed, not fully realizing what was to come.

Most of all I thank God for His sacrifice on that dark day.  Through it my life is forever changed.

When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of glory died

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.