April 22 -- Good Friday

Yesterday, we received a bold command from Jesus to love one another, with Christ-like love. Today we come face to face with the fact that we can’t. That we fall so short, even when we try our best. Today we come face to face with our brokenness, our sinfulness. “We have failed you God. We have denied you, just as your disciples did long ago. We have hurt those you called us to love. We’ve even hurt our own selves, our bodies that you gave us as your temple.” Today we come face to face with the cross. The cross of God’s divine will for us and our wanting to go our own way.

Yesterday we received a bold command from Jesus to love one another; today we come face to face with fact that we can’t. And so that leaves us totally dependent on grace. Totally lost without the crucified Christ before us. Today is good, because in the cross and death of Jesus we have hope. We have a Christ who hangs…on our brokenness. Who lifts our sin and death onto himself. We have a God who looks down from that holy cross of brokenness and sin…and declares—exactly what no one would ever expect – a triumph: “It is finished.” Those are the words of a victor. God has “finished” the sin and the brokenness of this world. God has finished, washed away, your shortcomings and denials and wrongful words and hurtful actions. According to the Gospel, this is Jesus’ finest hour, the hour of his glorification by God. “It is finished!” In this cross is triumph. In this tree, this ugly tree, is—exactly what no one would ever expect—life.

Good Friday is good…because on this day Christ takes the whole sin of the world onto himself, lifting it from us, so that we might stand up straight and live anew. And then Christ speaks to his mother and the beloved disciple, establishing a new relationship of love that crosses familial boundaries. Even from the cross, Christ establishes a new law of love, where there are no boundaries, no limits, even death itself cannot hold back this love divine. On this day, on this cross, is the hope of this world. May we glory in the cross of Christ forever. AMEN. Thanks be to God. AMEN.