Good Friday afternoon,
I’m not alone, I don’t think, when I say; Good Friday is different. I may have different reasons for it but it is a reverent day for me.
As a kid I had great respect for GF. I was raised Catholic. One way or another my family saw to it that I got to church whether it be my aunts, uncles, or friends. I made it to church.
Not that they made me go, I wanted to go – no matter whose house I was at. I felt safe in church. The bellow of the organ chords, hymns, the stained glass were all peace for me.
Be Still My Soul – Be Not Afraid – Holy, Holy, Holy – I Sing The Mighty Power of God, Here I am, Lord – Isaiah’s First Song - they brought tears to my eyes. I felt full. As a matter of fact, I lived at church for three years, not like Samuel but.
I went to a catholic military school from second grade to 5th grade. Marines! No reflection on the school. I actually thrived in that environment. Reward, boundaries, and obedience. I served as an altar boy and sanctuary was attached to the great room lobby by a long hallway.
For those who know me, why walk when you can run, right?
I actually walked – slowly - down that hall. I almost had to - on that hall wall were the stations of the cross - the way of the cross, Via Crucis!
That was big for me. The sorrowful road – Via Dolorosa…
Scripture reports that WHAT Jesus endured, was because of sin and not Jesus’ sin – the sin of the world. In my young eyes, Jesus came to show us the way out, to fix what was broken. How it got broken was the trespass. That sounds nicer than sin, but sin is what it is. SIN, those three letters with “I” right in the middle!
Jesus forgave people, God did that in HIS MERCY we are Forgiven. God came looking for those who were lost and didn’t know it. Evidently sin mattered. It kept us from God. Sin was our way of saying NO WAY to The Way and If I remember correctly, I was once SO proud of that.
I read about Jesus’ power and healing, feeding thousands with a lunch bucket, not because He could, but out of His compassion He fed them and healed them, sat with them, ate with them. People NOBODY other would dare Jesus did. His power over nature, time and space, calming the stormy seas (my young life was certainly that)! I felt it.
The accuracy of the stations of the cross really didn't matter to me, what mattered was that Jesus suffered for sin. I knew sin, not in great detail, but sin. Not telling the truth, taking what wasn’t mine, disobeying authority, and being dishonest.
I lied because I was afraid of the punishment. I stole candy from the neighborhood store. I bought some and I took some (in my mind that made it right). The owner Louie, he knew. He kept a running tab, though my brother and I didn’t know. My dad would settle our account each week.
Life happens as it does, and those littles turn into bigs. When I understood the depth of those bigs, yikes! It was raising a family when I realized I had dug myself a nice ditch that I thought nobody but me could see - then I realized Jesus saw too. One thing made that worse, I had grown into the world, not in Jesus.
Mark gives an explicit account after all the cajoling and lying and trapping, the people who wanted Jesus to stop making them look so bad did the same thing he came to die for. They sinned to get what they wanted. Just like me their pride justified their actions.
Today’s passage is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 15 verses 16-20.
16 The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman cohort. 17 They *dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. 20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him. NASB 1995
The reality of that kind of brutality, (not forgetting this is after an illegal arrest and conviction when the chief priest and his mob had tortured Jesus) was taken on because of my sin which, led me to realize that Jesus loves me more than I can ever understand. Why? Because who else would do that for me, only Jesus.
This life sometimes seems like a big candy store, our eyes sparkle at the wrong things, and we put things in our pockets that we shouldn't. We allow our hearts to long after things and people that lead us away from that love.
Thankfully and humbly, I remember why Good Friday is Good Friday. And that's because resurrection Sunday is just that. The grave could not keep Jesus and therefore as receivers of His mercy, grace, and forgiveness it cannot keep us, either.
Our bodies are not our own, they are temples of the Holy Spirit, they were bought at a price. The only one who could or would pay that account is the one who suffered for it. Jesus, Messiah.
Good Friday to you all.
