He was wounded for our transgressions,
Crushed for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him,
And with his stripes we are healed
(Isaiah 53:5)
There are times when we feel bogged down by life’s troubles. We may have failed to achieve something or we may have feared a particular happening…or we may have been hurt by someone…the list is endless.
I too have had my doses of depression. There are times when I have felt like a ‘nobody’…someone who has achieved nothing but a big cipher; But then…suddenly, my mind goes back into the past…over 2000 years ago into the city of Jerusalem…on that first Good Friday…the day Jesus died.
What makes that Friday a ‘good’ one? Considering that God’s only son sacrificed himself for us on that day, to call it a ‘good’ Friday seems rather unjust and contradictory. However, a deeper retrospection makes the entire idea crystal clear.
“The word became flesh…and it dwelt amongst us” – what better way to describe the Christ? Jesus brought salvation for all. He healed the broken hearted and set the captives free…he made the lame walk again and called the blind to see. He was so full of love and mercy, that tax – collectors and harlots found a special place in his heart even though they were the most hated and rejected in society then. Besides, there was a strange kind of dynamism in his voice, that he drew people in mammoth numbers from all over the country. It is no wonder that Jesus was so different, so dynamic and so revolutionary. He was the ‘only begotten son of God’ – very God of very God!
Besides all this, Jesus came for a greater cause, a task which could by fulfilled by no other…he came to die…on the cross!
The physical suffering He endured that fateful Friday is simply beyond comprehension. We Late Pope John Paul II viewed Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’; he rightly said that, what he saw in the film was not even half of what Christ actually went through. It was an inhumane act…an act of brutality. A brief illustration of the crucifixion will help you understand the above.
The Romans adopted the ‘art’ of crucifixion from the Phoenicians who first used it. They preferred it to boiling the condemned in oil or even punishments like impalement, stoning, drowning and burning which all proved to swift for their taste. The Romans wanted a form of execution that was slow as it was painful…hence the cross.
The ritual of crucifixion was rather gory. The cross beam was fitted beneath the prisoner’s shoulders and his arms were extended along its length. Soldiers held them in place while the executioner with his right hand probed the wrist for a little hollow spot where the so called ‘life line’ ended. Once he found it, his movements were swift and sure. Taking a five inch, square cut iron nail, he positioned it, and then he drove it into the hand and into the cross with a single blow. The same was repeated for the other arm.The soldiers then lifted the cross beam into place on the upright which was already planted in the ground. The timber was then lifted until the mortise could be fitted over, thus forming a rugged cross. Next, the executioner positioned the prisoner’s right foot over the left being careful to make sure his legs were bent at the knee. With a measured blow, he drove the third spike through both the feet and into the cross. Death was painful and above all…very slow. After nearly an hour of extreme torture, death came as inexorably as it must, usually in the form of asphyxiation.
Was Jesus deserving of a death so painful and so full of shame? Was there no other way?However, Christ’s physical sufferings were pale in comparison with the plan his Father had in his death. God saw Christ’s death as the only way to redeem lost humanity. It was a price Jesus had to pay to redeem EACH one of us. He suffered the Father’s rejection that we might be reconciled to him. That how much he loves you and me!
When I think of that first Good Friday, I don’t feel low and depressed anymore. In fact, I feel rejuvenated with encouragement, victory and love…because my saviour died especially for me! Jesus turned the cross – a sign a shame, sin and death into a sign of hope and new life. HE DID IT FOR ME.
I will never think of the cross the same way again….it is a lesson for me…an act of love and kindness.
What message can we take from the Lord’s passion and death? It is very clear – you are precious to God and that why he died for you. Take life in all its strife and move along.
Is there a man who has betrayed the trust of his children?
Your debt is paid!
Is there a man or a woman who has lost his or her virtue?
Your debt is paid!
Is there a son who has broken his mother’s heart, a daughter who has forsaken the teachings of her youth?
Your debt is paid!
Is there a junkie who has lost all hope?
Your debt is paid!
Is there a religious leader living a double life, a merchant trapped in crooked deals, a politician on the take?
Your debt is paid!
Your REDEEMER has paid your debt!
“Though your sins are like scarlet…they shall be white like snow;
Though they are red as crimson…they shall be like wool.”
