Blessings: His Saving Grace (Day 39)
Verse to ponder: When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30
If you’ve been following along with this series, you probably were wondering where I went. Well, as some of you know, I’m not the best at math. Let me clarify: I can do math; I just don’t enjoy it. So, when I started the series, I didn’t count correctly. My days for each of my posts ended up being way off, and I realized last week that I’d already posted Day 38. So, oops. I’m picking back up today to finish out the series for Lent.
Today is Good Friday. Until somewhere around after college, I never understood why it was called Good Friday. I always felt like “Maundy Thursday” was a better sounding name for the day that Jesus was crucified. I suppose I was just too young to understand why today would be considered a “good” day in the liturgical calendar. (Also, I’ve made sure to understand what “maundy” means — it comes from the Latin, mandatum, which means commandment. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave his disciples his new commandment: to love one another as He had loved them.)
But Good Friday. Good Friday is the day that Christ was put on the cross and killed. Reading the story is gruesome enough. Watching representations like The Passion or other movies that have been created makes it that much more real. To consider the pain and anguish that this man was put through — here in human form with human tears and human sweat and human blood — just is beyond my true ability to believe. I know it happened. I know that he was put through so much. But this many years later? In my sheltered little world? It’s hard to really grasp the severity and REALITY of what occurred on Calvary.
There are scholars who suggest that the death of Christ wasn’t necessarily to erase the sins of human kind but rather to basically stand up to the authorities and oppressors who were abusing those that Jesus loved. Jesus was a community man — he helped those who were less fortunate and preached about us needing to do the same. Remember this verse?
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:40.
The death of Christ on the cross means so much more than just his death. In this holiest of holy times, my mind now turns to the grace he showed us by dying to stand up for us. Whether you believe it was to erase our sins by taking them upon himself or whether you believe it was to face the oppressors on his people’s behalf, he was standing up for us. He took the brunt (to say the least) of the punishment for people he barely knew and would never meet in “real life.”
How amazing is that? What an amazing way to look at this Good Friday. And while it still seems strange to call it “good,” it’s a beautiful story of love and grace that makes this coming Sunday even more exciting.
I still have trouble wrapping my head around the “good” in Good Friday, but I try every year to better understand the sacrifice and love that happened on that day!