Friday, March 29, 2013

HOLY WEEK GOOD FRIDAY: Good Friday For Us Was Bad Friday For Jesus

Read Matthew 27:1-61 Today, Good Friday, is without question the roughest, most treacherous and painful day Jesus faced during these final hours before his death. Soooooooo much happening today! Judas felt bad (not repentance) and hanged himself early Friday morning. Before the third hour (9 a.m.), Jesus endured false accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, and abandonment. After multiple illegal trials, he was sentenced to death by crucifixion - the most horrible and disgraceful way to kill a person. Words cannot describe what went on next. Jesus was led away, soldiers spit on him, tormented and mocked him, and pierced him with a crown of thorns. They made Him carry his own cross to Calvary where he was mocked and insulted again as Roman soldiers hammered nails through his hands and feet into a wooden cross. From the 6th hour until the 9th hour (noon to 3pm) darkness covered the land. As Jesus hung & suffered on the cross, he asked His Daddy to forgive the people (Luke 23:34), told a criminal that they’d be in paradise together (Luke 23:43), told His mother and John that they were now family (John 19:26-27), felt like God had ditched Him (Mark 15:34), was thirsty (John 19:28), said “It is finished” (John 19:30) and at the 9th hour(3pm), right before He died, He committed His spirit into God’s hands (Luke 23:46). At that moment, the curtain of the Temple was torn in two, earth shook, rocks split and zombies came out! All of this to supernaturally mark an undeniable event! By 6 p.m. Good Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, took Jesus' body down from the cross and put it in a tomb. SO WHAT?!~ - Being treated wrongly, unfairly and unjustly stinks! Every bone in my body wants to speak up and prove myself right. And there are certainly times for that. What amazes me about Jesus was He considered MY life (and yours) worth more than being right. He had a much higher focus. Even the apostle Paul wrote, “Why not rather be wronged, why not rather be cheated?” (1 Cor 6:7) - “It Is Finished” are three of the best words in the Bible! The payment Jesus made on the cross by giving HIS life for MY sin is ENOUGH! Nothing more is needed. Jesus + anything is not free grace! All it takes is simple, childlike faith in the person & work of Jesus. Grace is both scandalous and awesome! - The Bible says that on this Friday, from the 6th hour until the 9th hour (noon – 3pm) darkness covered the land. It’s been our family tradition to have lunch in the dark on Good Friday. We eat, read the Bible passage above and talk about what it must have been like for Jesus. Maybe something like this will help your family to remember Jesus too!

No comments:

Post a Comment