Good Friday

The sermon I heard at the Maundy Thursday service last night and the devotional I read this Good Friday morning both painted a picture of the ugliness of sin in the face of the beautiful holiness of our God. The world we live in is the result of our selfish desires having been given full rein; the evil, hatred, violence, disrespect and animosity we see day in and day out are difficult to describe. Just as the prophets had trouble describing the glorious visions of the heavenly throne room, the Lord seated on his throne and the mighty angelic presence surrounding him, there simply are no words to describe the indescribable. 

We are so immersed in the disturbing images and news of this world that, probably to save our sanity, we are becoming sort of numb to it all. How do we grasp the seriousness of our sin, the level of darkness we’re living in? What drives us to our Savior and his glorious light that delivers us from all the darkness and sin? One of my (many) favorite verses in John’s gospel is verse 5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Darkness cannot overcome the light - it’s simply impossible; light a candle in a dark room if you need a quick reminder. When we get overwhelmed with how bad things are in this world, when it seems that the darkness is winning, read John 1:5 again. And again.

But the root of the problem, the source of the darkness, is sin. How can we truly turn from sin and turn to God without realizing the ugliness of our sin? How do we turn to God without seeing the beauty of his holiness and the power of his love? How do we walk out of the darkness into the light without seeing the light inviting us? Sin blinds us to the truth of who Jesus is and it blinds us to the truth of what sin is. Human beings are masters at justifying wrong choices! We can so easily make excuses for the choices we make until we become so embroiled in the lies that we can’t see the truth. What a mess we are!

But Jesus came into this world - this mess - to show us what love looks like, to show us the Father’s heart for this fallen world. He lived, he breathed, he walked among us, he laughed, he cried, he celebrated, he mourned and every day showed us the Father’s love for each one of us. My devotional this morning referred to Jesus’ “embarrassing choice of companions”. That would be us. But, he loves us, he really wants to be with us and he never gives up on us. 

The season of Lent and maybe especially Holy Week, allow us opportunities to see what sin looks like - to see the cost of our sin. It cost the life of our Lord and Savior. God chose to die because of his unending love for his “embarrassing choice of companions”. He who created us, knows us inside and out, calls us each by name, and sees every dark corner of sin in our hearts, loves us beyond measure - even to the point of dying for us. 

I can’t bear to watch scenes from movies that depict the hours leading up to and including the crucifixion of Jesus. I can’t bear to watch the re-enactment, yet Jesus endured the reality of all that horror. Just for me. And you. And all the rest of this world full of “embarrassing companions”. Truly the most amazing love we can ever know.