It's Friday but Sunday is Coming!

Anne Lamott once said, “I do not, at all, understand the mystery of grace. Only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”  As I think about Jesus’ path to the cross and his crucifixion I don’t think anyone will ever be able to understand the grace of God. I cannot fathom that one man would take all of my problems, all of my faults, place them on his shoulders, and die for me so that I could be freed from their weight.  And to think, he did it not only for me but for you and for all of humanity.

The price of sin is death and we should have been the ones to die on that cross but Jesus took our place.  Because of his suffering, we now have an advocate when we suffer.  It does not matter what we are going through or how difficult of a situation we may be facing because we know that Jesus understands.  He, too, has suffered and he has felt pain worse than we could ever imagine.  He was beaten, mocked, tormented and tortured throughout his final agonizing hours.  I actually think God darkened the Earth because He could no longer bear watching the way that humanity was treating his son. 

But you know what Jesus was thinking about when he was suffering? How much he loves you and me.  The first thing Jesus says when he is hanging on the cross is to ask God to forgive those who were crucifying him. I think that he was not only asking for the forgiveness of the men that day but for us too because if it wasn’t for our sins he would not be dying like this.  There is no depth of despair to which we could fall that is worse than what Jesus bore for us on the cross.  But he did it because he loves us and no matter what we are going through he is there for us.  He understands.  “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  Isaiah 53: 4-5

But the story doesn’t end here.  The story of Jesus didn’t end when he died on the cross.  It continued through the lives of his disciples then and continues with us now.  Although darkness was cast over the Earth when Jesus died we now carry the light of God with us.  As we follow Jesus to the cross today I pray that we are moved by the sadness of Christ’s death, humbled by his eternal love for and filled with the joy of knowing that we are set free from our sins.  And let us also be strengthened by the thought that we are now able to spread the love and grace that is found in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It’s Friday but Sunday is coming!

This is how Love wins, every single time 

Climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die 

This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you 

Letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds 

This is what Love says, standing at the door 

You don’t have to be who you’ve been before 

Silenced by His voice, death can’t speak again 

This is how Love wins

Steven Curtis Chapman, “How Love Wins”