April 7, 2023
“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”
– Billy Graham
Imagine standing by while your closest friend is unjustly executed, publicly derided by vicious mobs, and humiliated in his last lonely hours.
Imagine you were his best friend and could tell him everything because he understood you and accepted you as you were. Imagine he was the one who saved you, who rescued you from a degrading life of prostitution. Imagine you were his mother, and he was your only son, who didn’t deserve to die.
We all know how painful the grief that accompanies the death of a loved one can be. Some death, however, is unjust and brought about by evil, and this makes the pain particularly intolerable.
Now, imagine you came to believe your friend was the person who would make the world a better place, heal all hurts and give you a reason to make life worth living. That is the reality of Good Friday, when Jesus died on the cross for us.
Centuries later, we still look to his death with painful hearts when we consider how he suffered and died so that we could live forever.
No matter how many times we do wrong, he still accepts us, loves us, forgives us and welcomes us into his kingdom. Remember that in his last moments in agony and abandonment, he did what he can’t help but do: He forgave and he loved and he showed compassion, even to the extent that he told a common criminal being executed beside him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Because he died, all of us are guaranteed the same promise he gave to the good thief.
Death does not end our life, or the lives of our loved ones. Despite the pain of grief and being separated from them, despite our anger, our frustration, and our despair, we should always cling to one fundamental truth: Death does not end our life.
So when we look at Jesus nailed to the cross in abject agony, it’s always good to remember, he chose death so that death would have no dominion over us.
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Spend a few moments in silence, looking at Jesus on the cross