Lifted Up on Good Friday
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“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified …. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour… Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:20, 31-32).
Today we reflect on the fact that Jesus voluntarily laid his life down for each of us, in spite of the fact that the thought of it “troubled” his soul. It is a weighty day, a terrible day, a great day, a somber day.
After many months of agonizing waiting by Jesus, he declares soberly that his time has finally come. It means death. Brutal, raw, people-jeering-at-you-while-you-bleed-out kind of a death. How can we call such a terrible Friday “Good?”
Jesus describes the death that looms over him in seemingly contradictory ways. It turns out his horrific, shameful death will mean his kingship.
Jesus says triumphantly that the hour has come for him to be glorified, sounding rather kingly!
His death will be the judgement of this world. Somehow his sentencing will result in the declaration of what is right and what is wrong about all that is.
He declares that his death will seal God’s final victory over the prince of this world—Satan and all his minions that have held all creation as hostage from just after “in the beginning.”
And being “lifted up” on the cross means the gathering of all the nations to himself.
In summary, Jesus dies in order to be crowned as king over the world, displacing the wicked usurpers of sin, death, and Satan. In order to accomplish that victory, he plunges into the depths of darkness.
This is a rather counter-intuitive way to overcome sin, death, and Satan. In fact, in the moments before it all happened, he was praying, “Are you sure? Is there any other way?” But this was the way. And Jesus walked it, right into death. For you and for me and for the world. The only way to deliver so great a rescue operation was through a cross, on a hill, just outside of Jerusalem.
And so we gather there in our hearts together on this day in awe, in reverent silence, in humility, and in gratitude.
Good Friday is not an easy day to enter into for some of us—it’s dark, intense, and heavy. Ask the Lord to help you to enter into it in whatever way you are best poised to do so this year.
One simple and accessible way to enter into Good Friday is with humble thanksgiving. Spend a minute thanking Jesus for embracing the cross in spite of the foreboding nature of it.
Finally, take a minute to pray that we as a church might remain anchored in the grace and mercy of the cross as our lifeblood as a church. Pray that the Lord might help us to explain it and demonstrate it to those around us who don’t know it.
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3 Comments
Brian Apr 4, 2021 @ 9:34 am
Jan Ross Apr 2, 2021 @ 10:13 am
Jan Ross Apr 2, 2021 @ 10:11 am
Have I always worked against Him?
I cannot truly say.
His power always moved me--
but did I always turn away?
Perhaps there was a time when
I joined in heavenly glee
with the host of heaven,
who later watched me flee.
The Most High in heaven,
the Godhead, Three-in-One,
had neglected to include me;
by this I was undone.
As the blazing morning star,
my glory could not fail;
I hated that before the Lord
my light remained so pale.
How was I to know the
dreadful penalty to defy,
would leave me earthbound,
banished from the sky?
Like a flaming arrow I dove
Into the earth to cower
and work machinations
that would increase my power.
Upon this tiny world, this backward
planet there would hinge
the struggle that I vowed
would culminate in my revenge.
Through the years I plundered
and perverted God's creation
drinking deeply of the fruit
of each abomination.
Oh, Adam, my first convert,
when the will of God was spurned,
the first of many followers,
from Cain, your son I learned,
the fuel that most increased my
might was the blood of innocents.
Mankind, God's best creation,
seemed to be without defense.
When I thought my victory sure--
who could have foreseen,
that God, yes God Incarnate!
would Himself redeem
His lost and broken people
and this world He truly loved
at the terrifying price of His Son's
most precious blood?
My domain invaded! The gates of hell
came crashing down!
The Lord, the Word of God,
stood with the ex-damned all around.
He led them out into the light;
their years of darkness through,
and then the Son of God said:
"And you, would you come too?"
Oh God, if You had struck and
shattered me in hate,
then I could still have hope
the resurrection came too late.
My power would increase and
I could rise to reign above,
but You have surely won
this victory with Your love.