I know that many Christians find Good Friday a difficult day.
It is the day when we remember that our Lord Jesus, God incarnate, the one who lived the most beautiful and loving human life that has ever been lived, died one of the most cruel and painful deaths ever devised by humanity when we was nailed to a Roman cross.
It is a day when we remember the mockery of a trial whose conclusion was decided in advance, the day when we remember the cruelty of the Roman whips and the agonising, exhausting walk carrying that rough wooden cross beam through the streets of Jerusalem. It is a day when we remember the mockery of the Jewish leaders and those crucified with him, though one repented.
It is a day when we remember those loving words, spoken amidstbthe hatred and the blood and the pain: “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”
It is the day when we remember that Jesus did all this for us, so that we could be in loving relationship with God and know that he forgives our selfish and loves us more than we can ever know.
Good Friday is hard because we know that Jesus went through all that pain and suffering for us and the rest of humanity.
Some words from a prayer of confession in Ray Simpson’s book, ‘Celtic Worship Through the Year’ bring this forcibly home:
“We are the race that helped make the cross on which you were crucified......
We are the race that helped make the nails that pierced your body.....
We are the race that did nothing to stop your betrayers....”
No wonder Good Friday is a hard day for Christians.......
No comments:
Post a Comment