Good Friday
Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget Thine agony; Lest I forget Thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary -Jennie Evelyn Hussey
At the third hour, 9:00 am, on the morning of what would later become Good Friday, my Savior was sentenced to death on a cross. Crucifixion, the most painful and agonizing death sentenced by the Roman Empire. With no wrongs found, he is given the penalty by the mob of the same people who had just a few days earlier loved and worshipped him. In the presence of Pilate, he knew why he was placed on this earth. “You are a king then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” -John 18:37 He does not deserve the treatment yet he take it from and for his people. The sacrifice must be made.
Adorned with a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe that burned his skin, my King was beaten beyond recognition. Muscles weak and stretched; skin opened, wounds exposed; barely able to stand, he is beaten one strike away from death. Enough punishment so that he can still live to endure the pain to its fullest. The only place on his body that was not blood stained left the marks of tears as they rolled from his swollen eyes. He cries not from the pain, but because of the betrayal of his people. “For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23:31 The friends have turned against their true and righteous King. His flesh is ripped. He was mocked, bruised and treated as a criminal. Weakened from the beatings and abuse of the soldiers, he can hardly stand but is made to carry the cross- his death. The murdered was placed in between two murderers. The glory God had placed on him was no longer seen. Though he remains the Son, he was disowned by the Father. By noon my sins were taken and laid on the High King. By noon that day all my wrongs were covered for and I owed nothing to compensate for my mistakes. By noon the land surrounding the Golgotha, which means the place of the skull, was dark. God had turned away from the world’s only once perfect being, but now the most imperfect man. Once pure, now damned with every sin I have ever committed and have yet to commit.
At 3:00 pm, a voice cries out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” The One who covers my wrongs cries out to his Father, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” On Golgotha, Jesus breathed his last breath. Even as his lungs emptied, he was recognized by a soldier as a man that could only be the Son of God. When Jesus died, the earth shook; rocks split. The tombs of righteous people were opened and the dead were allowed to breath and live once again on the earth. As the last heart beat drummed its weary song, the temple’s curtain tore from top to bottom. The veil that once hid Christ’s followers from the Most Holy Place was stripped. Through his death we were no longer separated from God’s presence. Our eternal longing is satisfied.
The night before his crucifixion he went to an olive garden (Gethsemane) to talk to the Father. He felt the stress of knowing what he was going to endure the next day. As anxiety flowed through his body, mind and spirit, he sweat drops of blood. The King knew what his purpose on earth was. He died willingly. He knew the seriousness of the mission set before him by God. In the olive garden Jesus asked his Father to relieve him, but only if it was the Father’s will.
This Good Friday is my Good Friday. Without the King’s sacrifice, I have no hope. Without his death I am subject to the punishment he endured.
Remember the meaning of “Good Friday”.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:6-8
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. -John 3:16-17
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