April 10, 2020
Good Friday
“When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.” Luke 23:33
Why is Jesus dying on the cross called Good Friday? It seems quite paradoxical, labeling something good when bad dominatedthe day. But the good news was that God’s love overcame the darkness of people’s hate.
As Christians, we remember the day that Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. There’s a lot of good news in this no matter the empathy we feel for Jesus’ suffering on the cross. In a world where vengeance and retribution were part of the landscape, Jesus taught a different set of values through the cross: forgiveness, acceptance, and reconciliation.
You have heard the expression: carrying the cross. Good Friday teaches us to carry the cross of others so that we may help relieve suffering and enlarge the kingdom of love through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The “Good” in “Friday” teaches us that Christ’s love conquers the hate in men and women’s hearts.
Prayer: God our Father in heaven, help us to see the goodness of the love in our Savior as He went to the cross to tell us how much He loved and cared for us. May we commit our lives to the service of His kingdom. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.
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