Grace and Good Friday
It's Good Friday and this is in my Bible:
“ The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. ”
I see Jesus and then I see these words:
Scrawny
Scrubby
Not-attractive
Scum
And then I see myself and my sin and I see these:
Ripped
Torn
Crushed
Bruised
Piled upon Him
And I see His suffering and I see
Made us whole
Healed us
I just can't get away from one word. Ripped.
When I see that word I think about paper or something flimsy that is easily torn. But we are talking about a person. To think about a human being ripped and torn, about your mom or your dear friend or your child being ripped, that's vivid and horrifying.
People aren't like paper; they have bones and flesh and souls and dreams and abilities and hopes and laughter. And He wasn't just a person. He was fully a person AND fully God, God-King.
God was shredded. That's what happened today on Good Friday.
A few years ago my 10 year old at the time asked, “Why is it called Good Friday when it's when Jesus was crucified, mom? That's not good.”
Oh buddy...He was crushed and killed for our good, bud. It was horrible...for our good. So we could be made whole and healed. Ripped for our good. He was always doing things for our good. We have a good God who came for our good.
And then I see that there was somehow, in some way, joy involved on Jesus' end. Which seems like the biggest juxtaposition we can think of: joy and ripping. But somehow, He saw that this was the way, that it was somehow good, and for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross. He saw that this was good, though be it horrifying. He chose joy in the middle of anguish. He fixed His eyes on things above and endured the cross. We have a good, good Father who sent a good, good Son. Who was soon...soon...three times soon…..raised from the grave by a good, good Spirit.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ”
Finding grace on good Friday has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Him.