I knew why we had Easter, and what it was celebrating. But I'm not sure I really understood truly what Easter meant.
For those who have grown up in the Church we know that Jesus was betrayed, taken before Pontius Pilate, and eventually handed over to the crowd to be crucified.
Jesus is beaten and whipped before being made to carry his cross through the streets. He is then nailed to the cross, which is then hauled upright on the hills of Calvary.
Jesus hangs there in agonising pain, before crying out "Father, why have you forsaken me?" and dying.
So remind me how this is good? Sounds pretty bad to me.
For me there a two words that make Good Friday good.
The first is Faith.
Jesus had to have enormous faith in God, faith in God's plan, faith that he hadn't been forsaken, faith that it would all be worth it.
Faith that his disciples would do as he had asked, faith his message would survive.
The disciples had to have faith. The man many of them had given up everything to follow was now hanging on a cross, about to die for proclaiming he was the Son of God. They had to have faith that all that Jesus had told them was true, faith that he would rise again.
We get to have faith in a loving God, and a Saviour who payed the ultimate price for us. Which leads to the next word.
The other word is Mercy.
Our God is a merciful God, and the events of Good Friday are all about this. The word Mercy comes from the Latin merces meaning price paid.
Price Paid.
Our price is paid, our lives redeemed. That is why Jesus had to die. To pay the price of our sins, now and forever. How awesome is that?
Because of the willing sacrifice of one man, we get to live forever.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. " John 3:16
Faith & Mercy. Eternal life. Faith in a Merciful God.
Turns out Good Friday is pretty good after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment