Good Friday

The Ultimate Price

Jesus was betrayed by one of His own, yet He stood silently.  He was mocked and ridiculed, but as a lamb lead to slaughter, He went silently.  The words He spoke as we read them in the text imply that He was still of solid mind and spirit through out the beatings and never lost His focus.  Even when Pilate got frustrated and told Him, don't you know I have the power to crucify you or to set you free?  Jesus, keeping His cool, and still knowing the big picture simply replied, "You would have no power over Me if it had not been given you from above".

We are human, so we tend to think of the physical torment, the whipping, the beating, and ultimately the pain inflicted by the crucifixion itself. I don't know how each and every one of you who might read this have experienced love in your lives, but I know that the loss of a loved one can be extremely painful, and it is a pain you cannot touch, it can't be stitched, and pain suffered on the physical body can be dwarfed by the pain inflicted by love. I know for myself, it would be easier for me to suffer the pain of illness or of accident than it would be for me to watch my wife or one of my children suffer.

Jesus made it through the pain of His sacrifice, but there was only one time when He cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani", My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me.  We are rejected of God because of our sin, and Jesus had to take on the payment for our sin in order to pay the sinners ransom, including for a brief moment in time, He was forsaken by His Father in heaven.  I truly believe this because as stated before, this and immediately after when He gave up the Ghost, are the only times it is mentioned during the crucifixion that He cried out in a loud voice, (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34) 

Jesus had walked His entire life close to the Father, He spoke with Him constantly, He was one with the Father, His greatest love, far greater than any man has for His wife and children, was His love for His Father in heaven.  He was the Son, He was God, He went to the cross in obedience to Him, and at that moment He was forsaken, God the Father turned His head away from the sin that hung on the cross, and I believe a heartbreak occurred at that moment in the heart of Jesus that is far beyond anything we can humanly fathom.  Yet He faced this because he loved us, He faced this so that in our dying day God will not turn His head from us, but rather may embrace us, if we only will willingly accept His Son.  This I believe is the true Passion of Christ, He gave it all for us, even deeper than the flesh wounds could ever reach. 

If you have neglected your morning prayers, if your day gets wrapped up in the hectic world, please try to keep your focus on the Father, and the Son.  He loves us, and when we stray, I believe He misses us.  If you love your wife, she probably gives you reason to live all day long, do you love Jesus this way also?  Give your life to Him, not just for the next three days, but keep Him with you always.

Dan Dunkin