Friday, April 6, 2012
Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
Isaiah 53:3-6
He was despised and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his stripes we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
John 19:29-30
Crucified and dying on his cross, when Jesus had taken the wine he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
If I take the time to read John 18 and 19 this morning …
Jesus tells his friend Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” And as the soldiers gathered their courage, Jesus is arrested. Bound but not gagged, he speaks to the high priest Caiaphas, “If I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”
At the Roman court, Pilate speaks to Jesus in private. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asks. Jesus says gently, “My kingdom is not of this world … the reason I was born is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Pilate responds with words that sound strangely modern, his point of view like ours born out of over-stimulation, over-thinking and disregard for spirit. “What is truth?” he says, but does not wait for an answer.
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate shouts at the people in disgust and frustration. He wants to set Jesus free but cannot.
So the soldiers take charge of Jesus and do their job. They set him up for death on a cross. He dies quickly, soon after saying to his mother and his disciple John, “Woman, behold thy son … Behold thy mother.”
I know the story is not yet over. But today we are looking up at a cross filled with the body of a man who “took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted.” This is not a good Friday; it’s an awful day. “The punishment that brought me peace is upon him.” The silence coming from the cross is deafening.
What do I have to say for myself? There are no words. I fall on my face, and weep, and wait for Jesus to come to me. There is nothing else.
In the silence that follows your death, Jesus, in the quiet of the afternoon, let me weep. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.
http://christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1068
