Reading With the People of God - #1Sample

Today is Good Friday. The day we remember Christ’s death on the Cross for our sins.

How can we call it “Good” Friday if it is about the torture and death of our savior? Jesus didn’t experience it as good, the disciples certainly didn’t experience it as good. The pain and humiliation of the cross are truly beyond imagination. Jesus was killed because the religious leaders of his day saw him as a threat. They essentially accused him of being a pretender to the throne in Judea and therefore a threat to the Roman Empire. They didn’t believe their own accusation but they wanted him dead and this was a way to do it. This was why when Jesus was being tortured they dressed him up in a purple robe and placed a crown of thorns on his head (Mark 15:17) . This was why they placed a sign on the top of his cross that said: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19). It was all a cruel joke. But in a strange way they were right because Jesus is the King and the cross ironically became his enthronement. It was the very worst the world and the devil could do to him, no one should ever have worshiped a crucified messiah. This was why Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:23-25 says:

“We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

So often those things which we meant for evil God can use for good. That is why this is a good Friday, because, despite the evil and horror Jesus faced that day, he did it for us. The very thing the enemy meant for evil became his defeat. Colossians 2:13-15 says:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Today’s Prayer of Illumination:

Gracious God, give me a humble, teachable, and obedient heart, that I may receive what you have revealed, and do what you have commanded. Amen