Skip to main content

Lent Day 45 Good Friday


Scripture Reading

John 19:23-30


Imagine that you were there. You are one of Christ's followers and you are there at the foot of the cross. Can you hear the crying, the moans of Christ's pain? Can you see him as he gasps for air and struggles to speak? Do you see his mother weeping and the crowds around her cheering his death? The stench of hatred and death are around you and the one that you love and believe to be the Messiah is hanging on a cross before you? Now...someone tells you that this is "good." It seems unreal that anything good could come from what is around you. You want to believe, but how can it be good? 


The Christian life at times is hard for us to understand. Throughout scripture we are told things that on the surface do not make sense. If we give up our lives, we gain life. The poor in spirit will inherit the Kingdom of God. The meek will inherit the earth.  And the death of Christ is good. On that Friday, it must have been unimaginably difficult to believe that what was before their eyes was anything but heinous and painful. How difficult it must have been to try to see beyond the pain. How hopeless they must have felt. It would have been so overwhelming. Surely, it would have been difficult to remember and trust in Christ's words that he would live again. Maybe they didn't believe. Maybe they didn't understand. Oh, how Christ wanted them to know that his suffering was for the good of all mankind.


This day was for us. It is "good" because Christ's sacrifice allowed us to have a relationship with God. It restored what had been broken. For us, it is the single most important act of love that was ever done for us. Out of death, God brought goodness. Out of what was ugly and despicable to the world, God created beauty and hope. Today we grieve over the suffering that Christ experienced for our sake, but we celebrate that God made all things good through him.


Prayer: Father, thank you for sacrificing your Son for me. Thank you for your plan of redemption and the plan you have for my life. I pray that my life would reflect my gratitude. I praise you for your great and matchless gift of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grieving With Hope

This past week has brought a sense of heaviness in my heart. My oldest child graduated from high school. She has achieved all that I could have possibly dreamed she would up to this point in life. To say I'm proud is an understatement. Completion of high school also means that life in our family is shifting. It won't quite be the same because she will experience a new season of life that will bring fresh experiences and countless life lessons. As I've talked to Cyd the last few days we both agree we feel a sense of sadness while simultaneously finding our hearts filled with hope for what is to come for our graduate.  Truthfully, the heaviness I feel is linked to other factors. For starters, this week marks 11 years since my Dad died from pancreatic cancer. I'm not a big death anniversary kind of person, but reaching a milestone with a child makes you miss a parent even more. The interesting thing about grief is that for most people, not a day goes by that you don't ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lent Day 43

Scripture Reading Matthew 26:14-25 Have you ever betrayed someone? Betrayal...even the word evokes horrible images. Betrayal can take the form of unfaithfulness to a spouse or love one, lying or telling partial truth. It can take many different forms. Have you ever spoken cruelly about someone behind their back or have you chosen to not stand up for someone who is the punch line of an ugly joke? Have you ever broken a promise to a friend or family member? I am guilty of all these things. We are quick to cast stones at Judas. Obviously, with good reason, he betrayed Christ into the hands of those who would crucify him. Judas was a part of God's plan for the world's redemption. I have to ask myself, in what ways am I like Judas? What in my life, in words, in heart and in actions, is betraying my devotion and love for God? What am I willing to "sell" my relationship with God in exchange for something else? There is always something that competes for our loyalty to Christ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lent Day 32

Scripture Reading Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus loved to use parables to teach people the truth of the kingdom of God. When Jesus taught using parables he was taking an example from the everyday life of his followers and using it to explain something about heaven or what it means to be a Christ follower.  In this very short parable, which is followed by an even shorter one, Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. As Jesus says in the parable, the mustard seed was the smallest seed used by farmers during that time. The amazing thing about it was that it would grow and become quite large. The comparison that Jesus is making is that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven starts out small but grows into something very large.  Think about it this way, the kingdom of heaven began with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but through God's plan of redemption through Jesus' death on the cross it has grown to include millions of people throughout the cent...
Post a Comment
Read more