Those who passed by.

Many will be familiar with the old Negro spiritual that asks the question: "Where you there when they crucified my Lord?" On this Good Friday, it's a question that may still be, legitimately, asked! 

The story is familiar to many, but here is Luke's account of the part on which I wish to concentrate: "... when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified Him , and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One!" The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him vinegar, and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!" (Luke 23:33-37).

Consider those who callously passed by the Saviour, as He hung on the cross - how they mocked Him; scoffed at Him; even challenged Him. How heartless they were. Yet, before we rush to judge them let's remember that many continue to treat Him thus today! They fall, broadly, into three groups.

There are those who want a cross without a Christ. It's possible to revere a symbol - even a symbol of death! - without giving any thought to the Saviour. So-called 'celebrities' will often be seen with a bejewelled gold cross being worn as a necklace; others will have little crosses hanging from their ears; many men will wear a 'chunky' gold cross around their necks. But that emblem, be it of silver, or gold, or wood, or anything else, will never pay the penalty for even one sin. It is the Christ, alone, Who redeems us with His precious blood.

Then, there are those who want a Christ without a cross! They want a mighty conqueror, not a dying Lamb. They would cry "... come down from the cross!" (Mark 15:30). They want a good example; a great teacher; a triumphant king. Theirs is a 'gospel' of human works. They want to be able to sing "I did it me way" - not His. They despise the true Gospel that declares that we are made right with Father God by faith in the One Who shed His blood on the cross.

A third group is those who want neither the Christ, nor His cross. They are untouched by His sorrow; unmoved by His suffering; unrepentant of the sins that He bore. They have never given thought to those wonderful words, penned by Horatio Gates Spafford:

"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." (emphases added)

(by the way, if you don't know the story behind the writing of that song, I would encourage you to check it out. Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReApJymYSiw  The 'embed' code is below but, for some reason, doesn't always work! Any advice appreciated!)

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He Who was sinless gave His life, that I, who am a sinner, might live in Him. He took my place, that I might have His peace.

What about you?!

"Good" Friday?!

It’s Good Friday”! It’s the day on which millions recall, specifically, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, at the hand of the Roman occupiers, and at the instigation of the Jewish hierarchy. Crucifixion – one of the cruellest forms of executing the death penalty. Yet we refer to this as “Good” Friday! Why?

These are difficult and troubled times in which we live. Social isolation means that many families are unable to meet together as they normally would at this time of Passover (for Jews) and Resurrection (for disciples of Jesus). But the times 2,000 years ago were also troubled.  If you have access to a Bible, or even just a New Testament (and, if you are reading this online, then you have access to both!), please turn to John 19, and read the first thirty verses.

Most of us like stories that end with “… and they lived happily ever after.”! I finished a novel yesterday. I won't share the full story but, at the end, a young detective was fatally wounded. The woman he had been helping visits his grave:

"You were a good man," she said, " and it wasn't supposed to happen like this. But how often do things turn out like they should, you know? Happy endings aren't always happy for everyone. I think about you a lot. I wonder about what you'd be doing, where you'd be right now. You're here because of me, and - I haven't figured out how to deal with that yet, but I'll keep coming back until I do, I promise. Maybe after that, too. See you next week, okay?" (Sara's Game; Ernie Lindsey).

"Happy endings aren't always happy for everyone."

From a human perspective, that Shabbat eve certainly didn't end well for Jesus - or for His disciples. I was speaking with a friend in Germany only a half-hour ago. Referring to the Covid-19 situation he asked, "Did you ever think that something like this could happen?" The same question could have been asked of the disciples and, in spite of all the hints, suggestions, and clear teaching that the Lord Jesus had given them, things had not turned out as they had expected. Who would have thought? Who would have imagined? But it happened. On that Friday, which seemed to be anything but 'good', those who were there could have cried out: "We live in troubled times!" And they would have been correct! They lived in troubled times - as do we at this season of Pâques. 

However, it is a sad fact of life that bad things happen to good people! remember that occasion on which "There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5). Bad things happen to good people!

We, too, live in troubled times, and it's not just because of the Covid-19 virus. It's because we live in a twisted, and broken world. "We know," writes Paul, "that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;" (Rom 8:22). It's because sin entered the perfect world that Father God had created - and bad things happen to good people: perhaps more often than we want to admit!

Those who stood at the cross almost 2,000 years ago saw nothing "good" about what was happening. But they did not have the advantage that you and I have of being able to look from what was, to them, the future. We know that the "good" of Good Friday is the good that we may gain from it. We know how the story unfolds. We know that Sunday was coming - and the story would be different. We know that it was all in the plan and purpose of Father God Who loves us so much that, in the Persona of the Lord Jesus, He paid the penalty for your sins and for mine. "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor 5:21). Ponder those words. The spotless, sinless, perfect Son not only "... bore our sins in His body on the tree," (I Peter 2:24). He actually became sin. He became sin in all of its vileness; its blackness; its depravity; its wickedness; its evil; its degradation. I believe that it was at that moment in time, that in eternity, the Father Who cannot even look upon sin, turned away from the dearly-beloved Son - and that Son cried out, in agony of spirit, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" (Matt 27:46).

He paid a debt He did not owe; because you, and I, owed a debt we could not pay. And that is the GOOD News about this day.

Of course, that leaves us, each one, with a choice. The inestimable gift of the Lord Jesus is available to all - but we must accept it. Father God does not force salvation upon any individual. We must each come to Him, in faith, by His grace, trusting Him with our lives, for all of the time that we have left in this mortal life.

Have you done that? If not, why not? Not one of us knows what tomorrow will bring - the Covid-19 virus has made that fact abundantly clear! But those who are "... in Christ Jesus." (Rom.8:1) need not fear. We don't know what the future holds - but we know the One Who holds the future in His hand. I commend you to His love and care.

Meditation

It was while my elder daughter was a student at the, then, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, that I first came across the beautiful piece of music by the French composer Massenet, that is named "Meditation". Indeed, it caused a wee bit of friction between my daughter and me when she asked me to purchase a copy of the score while I was in Glasgow. She merely asked if I could obtain a copy of the "Massenet" (probably because the Meditation is his best-known piece). However, what my non-professional ear heard was a request for a copy of "the Mass in A"!!! "By whom?", I asked. "Massenet!", came the reply. "Yes, I heard that. But who is the composer?" "Dad, Massenet is the name of the composer!" The conversation was actually a little longer than that - but left one somewhat chastened father!!!

However, the meditation referred to at the top, is the mental exercise of giving deep and focused thought to something. Today is known, in the English-speaking world, as "Good Friday", and is the day on which disciples of Jesus especially recall His death on the cross at Calvary, just outside the old city of Jerusalem.

People often ask the understandable question: "Why did Jesus die?" The New Testament writers don't go into a lot of detail about the crucifixion,. They had no need to do so. It was an all-too-common occurrence in the Roman Empire! In his record of the event, Mark simply writes: "And they crucified Him ..." (15:24). But why was He crucified in the first place? This was One Who had never committed any crime; Who had gone about doing good; Who was loved by children (who seem to have an instinct about adults who may be trusted!). Why would He suffer and die in such an agonising fashion?

Jesus did not die as a frustrated "super-star, in spite of the name of a well-known musical from last century. He did not die as an exemplary hero for some cause. Indeed, the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ (Messiah) was not even, primarily, an act of love! His death was, primarily, a sacrifice for sin. There was love, deep love, in it. It was His love for you, and for me, that held Him to that cross. But, first and foremost, it was a sacrifice.

Jesus "...gave Himself for our sins ..." (Gal.1:4). He Who knew no sin, became sin for you, and for me. Paul writes to the Corinthian believers: "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him [the Son] we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor 5:21). It is not too many years since I came across that verse and, in spite of having read it countless times before, something of the horror of it suddenly hit me. For a brief moment of human time, the spotless, sinless, Son; the Second Persona of the Trinity; Himself God; became sin! Sin - that upon which Almighty God cannot bear to look. Sin - the very opposite of the Holiness and perfection of the Father . Sin - that vile, filthy, rejection that spits in the face of the Father Who loves with an everlasting love (Is.54:8). Sin - in all of its blackness, its obnoxiousness, its evil, its nastiness, and any other similar description. He became sin - for us!

I realised, on the day when that verse first "hit" me - as it had never done before - that it was at that moment, in time, that Jesus experienced what He did not experience in all of eternity: the Father turning away from Him. That was when He uttered those words, known as "the cry of dereliction" - "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt 27:46). It was, surely, at that moment that Jesus experienced separation from the Father. How that happened, in the unity of the Godhead, I do not know. But it would have been, for Him, much, much worse than all of the physical pain and agony that He had already endured. And it was for you, and for me.

On this "Good Friday", take time to think deeply on this truth. Take to heart those words uttered by John the Baptiser: "Behold, the Lamb of God , Who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29), and rejoice that He did it for you!

Were you there? - Part 3.

On this Good Friday, we look at the remaining characters who were involved in the crucifixion, in one way or another.  We begin by thinking of two who, most certainly, were not there by choice!   They were the two who were crucified with Jesus: "And with Him they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left." (Mark 15:27).

Three men; three crosses!  How similar - yet how different!  One was a cross of contempt.  On it hung a man who derided Jesus as He hung there, dying.  "Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" (Luke 23:39).  There he hung, dying himself, alongside the Saviour of mankind.  He had the opportunity of life eternal - but he threw it away, and took the path of hostility, derision, and contempt.  In the most solemn hour in the history of the world, this condemned criminal cursed his way to a Christ-less eternity.

But, on the other side of the Lord Jesus was another cross - a cross of contrition. On it hung a man who has become known as "the penitent thief".  In the midst of his own pain and humiliation something touched him as he gazed across at the Man in the middle.  He realised that this was no ordinary man!  He had watched the soldiers nail Him to the wood; he had seen the blood that spurted from His wounds; and he had heard, not the torrent of curses that he would have expected - and that, in all probability, he had himself uttered - but a prayer that still hung, as it were, in the air around him: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).  As the very shadow of death hovered around them, he sensed that Jesus was more than a mere man, and cried out: "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."(Luke 23:42).  And from that central Cross, the Cross of compassion, came the welcome response: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43).   What joy must have flooded that man's spirit, in the midst of the physical agony that he, too, was experiencing!

Finally, we remember that there was, at the Cross on that first Good Friday, a little company of the Saviour's own friends, and His mother.  John was there, and Jesus fulfilled His final earthly duty as the eldest Son, by committing his mother to the care of "the beloved disciple".  Mary of Magdala was there, as was Mary, the wife of Clopas, and his un-named aunt - his mother's sister. (see John:19:25-27).  Humanly speaking there was little that they could do - but do not many of us understand the strength that is drawn , in times of difficulty, pain, or crisis, from loved ones who say nothing, and do nothing, but who are "there" for us?

To be nailed, stark naked, to a cross; and then to be lifted up above the heads of the watching crowd; was an ordeal that we can barely imagine.  Those dear ones who stayed with Him were, in effect, saying: "Whatever shame there is in this; whatever pain You are bearing; whatever agony You are experiencing; we are here, with You."

What is your attitude to the Christ on this Good Friday, 2016?  Could it be that, like the first thief, you have noting but contempt for the One Who gave His life to pay for your sins?   I trust that you are not like that but that, if you have never done so before, you will see, even in that battered, bruised, figure on a Cross; described, centuries before the event as having "... no form or comeliness that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed." (Isa 53:2-5; emphases added), not a mere man dying, but the King marching to Glory, and accept the salvation for which He paid the price!

If you already are a disciple of Jesus then, like the rest of us, you may know that you constantly let Him down.  Will you resolve, with me, on this Good Friday, to be more available to Him, in the strength of God the Holy Spirit?

It's Friday - but Sunday's coming.  Please return to this blog for the Resurrection Day post!

Were you there? - Part 2.

In the previous post, we looked at the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Judas Iscariot. In this one, I want to consider some other characters involved in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.

One prominent figure was, of course, Pontius Pilate.  He was the Roman Procurator - a relatively minor official, answerable to the governor who was responsible for all of the region and, ultimately, to the Caesar himself.  As a Roman, he belonged to a people who had conquered most of the then-known world and, for this reason alone, had an over-bearing arrogance, accompanied by a deep contempt and dismissiveness for the people he governed.  In the midst of the trials of Jesus, he found himself on the horns of a dilemma.  Outside there were Jews who, under their leaders, were clamouring for the death of this Jesus of Nazareth.  Inside, in front of him, the silent Prisoner.  Pilate was all too aware that the charges brought against this Man were false: "... he knew that it was out of envy that [the Jewish hierarchy] had delivered Him up." (Matt 27:18; inter al).  He was further troubled when he received a message from his wife: "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream." (Matt 27:19).  Eventually, however, the self-centred element in him won.  He was not prepared to risk complications with his superiors.  Deliberately, and knowingly, he condemned an innocent Man to death.  Moral values clashed with self-preservation - and he chose the latter. 

That crowd to whom we have already made reference, are also worthy of examination.  What part did they play in the grim drama of that first Good Friday? There can be little doubt that, amongst that baying mob, were some of those who had, just those few days earlier, followed Him into Jerusalem, excited by the idea that, at last, Messiah had come.  However, when nothing dramatic occurred, and the prophet from Nazareth made no move to overthrow the Roman oppressors, they turned their backs on Him to the extent that, when Pilate asked them: "Then what shall I do with Jesus Who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let Him be crucified." (Matt 27:22).  Even when the Procurator went on to ask: "Why, what evil has He done?" ... they shouted all the more, "Let Him be crucified." (Matt 27:23).  The record continues: "So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to it yourselves."  And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matt 27:24-25).

How responsible were the crowd for the crucifixion of Jesus?  There are those who would claim that they were no more than pawns, moved by their leaders, and that they did not realise what it was they were doing.  The one thing of which we may be certain, because we know it from personal experience, is that fallen human nature is so fickle that, especially in a crowd, it can vote for itself even against all that is true and just.  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9).  The crowd that demanded the crucifixion of Jesus was giving full expression to the inner rebellion against our Creator that lives in each of our hearts.  "We do not want this man to reign over us." (Luke 19:14).

Once again, we are faced with demanding questions.  Who is to be first - me, or Jesus?  It is an inevitable choice.  When moral choices clash with earthly choices, which will we choose?  It may be eternity itself that reveals the answer to that question, but revealed it will be.  Are we permitting the enemy of our souls to easily move us in opposition to the One Who came that we "... might have life, life in all its fulness."? (John 10:10).  Important questions; personal questions; questions that must be answered!

GOOD Friday?

It is, at first sight, a strange way by which to refer to the day that commemorates someone dying the particularly cruel death by crucifixion.  Why would anyone refer to such a day as "Good"?

The answer to that question is, of course, to be found in the identity of the One Who hung on that particular cross, on that specific day.  This was no common criminal - even 'though He died a criminal's death.  This One was Jesus of Nazareth - not only, as the inscription proclaiming His 'crime' proclaimed, "King of the Jews" but, in fact, the Saviour of mankind.  

Of course apart from using it as a piece of fashion jewellery, the world (i.e. those who live as if God does not exist) despises the cross, and the One Who hung on the cross.  As the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, wrote - centuries before the crucifixion of Jesus - "He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (53:3).
 
Why did He die?  It was not because He had no choice in the matter.  As God the Son, He was able to ask: "Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:53).   No, the reason for His death was, quite simply, your sin - and mine!  His death substituted for ours. He was the sacrificial “... Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). This Lamb is none other than God the Son Who, as Paul was later to write, willingly “... emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And, being found in human form, ... humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:7-8).
 
Remarkably, even God the Father “despised” Him as He hung on the cross, for God is holy and sinless and, for our sakes had “ ... made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Cor 5:21).  It is not so many years since I first noticed that 'be' that I have emboldened, and the reality of it suddenly became clear.  Jesus not only “... bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (I Peter 2:24).  He actually became sin - sin in all of its blackness, and vileness, and heinousness, and accursedness.  When I did realise that, I also realised that it was at that moment, in time, that the Father, in His sinless holiness, turned away from the Son.  It was at that moment, in time, that Jesus uttered what is referred to as “the cry of dereliction”: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt.27:46).

The chorus of one of the old Christian hymns - with better theology than some of its modern counterparts! - goes like this:
“So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, 'til my trophies at last I lay down.  Yes, I'll cherish the old rugged cross; and exchange it, one day, for a crown.”

On this Good Friday, do you cherish the cross, and the One Who hung on it?  Do you?!
 

It woz a cat wot did it!

It hit us as soon as we got into the car!  A fragrance; an aroma; actually a vile smell. We immediately knew what it was - feline urine (that's cat's pee to the less sophisticated/more vulgar!!!).  A few days earlier, my wife had transported some 'broken-down' cardboard boxes to the local Recycling Centre.  I remembered that one of them had been standing up against the bin.  It would appear that one of the local cats had taken a liking to it.

We sprayed the inside of the car with air freshener; we left the windows open; the smell lingered on.  I vacuumed the back,where the boxes had been transported; the smell lingered on.  I even shampooed the back of the car; the smell lingered on. Eventually, my wife suggested that the source of the offending pong might not have been a box in the back, but something that one of us had transported on a shoe.  We checked the front carpets.  The one that sits at my dear wife's feet was quickly identified as the culprit!  The front of the car was now subjected to a full valet service - with that particular piece of carpet receiving special attention!  What a difference - and just in time for the long journey to the static, in the Gironde area of France.

As I reviewed the situation, I realised that the whole episode was something of an analogy of life! So often, we are accosted by situations, and circumstances, that we find to be, at the very least,unpleasant.  We turn over a new leaf here; we make a New Year resolution there; we promise ourselves that we will do better. It's all to no avail!  The new leaf is no better than the old; the resolution rarely sees the end of January; we discover that we cannot even keep a promise to ourselves!

What we need to do, of course, is get to the root of the matter; the source of the problem.  We find it identified in the written Word of God - the Bible.  Writing to the believers in Rome, Paul makes the statement that "... all have sinned, and fallen short of the standard that God has set." (3:23).   Sin is the problem - and it effects every single one of us - no exception!

So what can be done?  Well, when my wife and I discovered the source of our little problem, we dealt with it by washing the carpet.  Sin is dealt with in a similar way - but the 'washing' is not with carpet shampoo.  In Acts 22, we have one of the records of the personal testimony of Paul.  In the 16th verse, he shares some words of the Lord to Him: "Have your sins washed away by calling on the Name of the Lord."; while John writes that it is "... the blood of Jesus, His Son, [that] cleanses us from all sin." (I John 1:7).

As we approach Good Friday, and a time when we especially remember the sacrifice made, for us, at Calvary, may we come to Him, Who alone can deal with our sin and shame - because He has already borne both - and seek His cleansing power. It is only as we are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, that we will enjoy His resurrection life - both now, and in eternity!

What's so "good" about Good Friday?

It does seem to be a strange way in which to refer to the day in which the focus for so many is the excruciatingly painful death, of an apparently innocent man, almost 2,000 years ago.  "Bad Friday"; "Black Friday"; even "Miserable Friday"; would surely be much more accurate!  So why "Good Friday"?

To understand this, we must go back to the very beginning of the human race, in that beautiful Garden "... in Eden, in the east;" (Gen 2:8).  Have you ever stopped to imagine it?  Planted by the Creator Himself, in a world in which there was no sin - in which mankind could meet with, and converse with, his Creator in a perfect relationship.  Truly paradise on earth!

However, such an idyllic state of affairs didn't last for long.  The story is there for all to read (Gen.3:1ff).  mankind - male and female - the pinnacle of creation, disobeyed even a simple command, and sin entered the world.  What could be done?  Mankind was punished; but a promise was given.  In what theologians refer to as the protoevangelium (literally, the first gospel), Almighty God says to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Gen 3:15).  That "seed" is Jesus - the Christ (Messiah); and it is He Who hung upon that cross on that first Good Friday.

And that is why it is good!  The essence of the Gospel is that God loved the world so very much that, in Jesus, He paid the penalty that we owed; He took upon Himself the punishment that we deserved; He made it possible, again, for us to enjoy close communion with Him.  But it all depends on that Figure on the Cross at Mount Calvary (Golgotha).  Centuries before, the Jewish prophet, Isaiah, was granted a peek into the mists of future time.  He wrote, concerning the Lord Jesus: "He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgement He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence,and there was no deceit in His mouth.  Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief; ..." (Isa. 53:3-10).  And for us - you and me - that's Good News!

Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  Praise Him for this Good Friday!

Good Friday

Well, the Friday bit, anyone can understand.  It's simply a day of the week.  But why is it called "Good" Friday?  After all, hasn't it got to do with Someone dying on a cross - one of the most excruciatingly painful methods of executing the death penalty that the twisted mind of mankind has invented?  What's good about that?

If it was just any man who had died like that, I suppose that there wouldn't be anything good about it.  But this wasn't just any man.  This was the One known as Jesus of Nazareth; the One Who was the Creator God in human flesh.

Some years later, a man named Paul referred to that crucifixion in a letter to some of the disciples of Jesus in the city of Corinth.  He wrote: “For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (II Cor 5:21; RSV)

John, one of the earliest disciples of Jesus, affirms to us that “God is love” (I Jn.4:8, 16).  And he isn't claiming that God is merely the highest form of love; but that He is the very essence of love.  Without God, love would not exist; without love, God could not exist. 

Paul, in those words to the Corinthian church, is telling us that when He hung on the cross, Jesus, the sinless, holy, perfect and without blemish Lamb of God, did not merely take my sin upon Himself, and pay the penalty that I owed.  He says that He became the very essence of sin.  He didn’t just die for my sins - amazing 'though even that would have been; He became all that sin is – all the ugliness, and blackness, and virulence, and bitterness, and maliciousness, and pollution, and poison, that is sin.  I wonder, was that what Isaiah saw as he was allowed to look over the horizon of time and get that glimpse of Calvary centuries before the event?  “He had no form or comeliness that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” (53:2).  No wonder that, for a brief moment of human time, the Father could not even look upon the Son, causing Him to cry out, in anguish, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

And He did all of that; He became sin; for you, and for me!  The hymn-writer didn’t quite get the message when he wrote “O help me understand it, help me to take it in; what it meant to Thee, the Holy One, to bear away my sin.” (K.A.M.Kelly).  H.G.Spafford was closer when he wrote “My sin – oh 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”

And that is why this is Good Friday.  Because it was on that first Good Friday that sin was defeated; the devil conquered; and the way made open for sinful men and women to commune, directly, with their Creator.  And, of course, that wasn't the end of even that part of the greatest story ever told.  But that's for the day after tomorrow!