Crucifixion, it is claimed, was the most agonising death that any human being could suffer. Even the Romans, who seem to have invented that particular method of executing the death penalty, deemed it to be too cruel for any Roman citizen to endure. And for a Jew, it was even worse. The Jewish Scriptures (what some of us refer to as the Old Testament) state that "... anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse." (Deut. 21:23). For anyone to volunteer to be crucified would have been a clear sign of total, and irrefutable, madness. For a Jew to do so, would be an act of defiance; of 'shaking a fist at' God; of saying to God "Go on. I dare You to do your wors
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Yet the story behind Good Friday is of One, a devout Jew, Whose whole life had shown Him to be perfectly sane, and in control of Himself to an extent that others could never hope to achieve, doing exactly that! But if this was not an act of madness, what on earth could it have been? The Gospel message is clear, and simple. It was a sacrificial act of love - pure love; overwhelming love; unconditional love; that love that is "the minimum of emotion, and the maximum of evaluation" (G.B.Duncan). It is that love that is named, in the Greek language, as άγαπη (agape); it is the very love of Almighty God Himself. And, as has been stated many times, by many poets and preachers, it was not the nails that held Jesus to the cross, it was love - love for you, and love for me.
But there was a reason behind this. This was no mere Man Who hung on the particular cross that is at the centre of this day. This was the One Who was the God-Man - YHWH El Shaddai in human flesh. God the Son, perfect in His humanity even as He was, and is, in His deity. And this was the ultimate, once-for-all sacrifice for your sins and for mine. "At Calvary, Jesus stood between God's anger and the punishment for our sins. having lived the life we couldn't live; then taking the punishment we couldn't escape; He freely offers us redemption we couldn't afford." (The Word for Today; UCB - see the link to obtain your free copy).
"My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought - my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord; praise the Lord, O my soul." (H.G.Spafford).
t"!Yet the story behind Good Friday is of One, a devout Jew, Whose whole life had shown Him to be perfectly sane, and in control of Himself to an extent that others could never hope to achieve, doing exactly that! But if this was not an act of madness, what on earth could it have been? The Gospel message is clear, and simple. It was a sacrificial act of love - pure love; overwhelming love; unconditional love; that love that is "the minimum of emotion, and the maximum of evaluation" (G.B.Duncan). It is that love that is named, in the Greek language, as άγαπη (agape); it is the very love of Almighty God Himself. And, as has been stated many times, by many poets and preachers, it was not the nails that held Jesus to the cross, it was love - love for you, and love for me.
But there was a reason behind this. This was no mere Man Who hung on the particular cross that is at the centre of this day. This was the One Who was the God-Man - YHWH El Shaddai in human flesh. God the Son, perfect in His humanity even as He was, and is, in His deity. And this was the ultimate, once-for-all sacrifice for your sins and for mine. "At Calvary, Jesus stood between God's anger and the punishment for our sins. having lived the life we couldn't live; then taking the punishment we couldn't escape; He freely offers us redemption we couldn't afford." (The Word for Today; UCB - see the link to obtain your free copy).
"My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought - my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord; praise the Lord, O my soul." (H.G.Spafford).
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