Tag: Good Friday

Mark 15 – King of The Jews

Read Mark 15

It didn’t seem right to shorten today’s reading. It’s Holy Week and Good Friday. It’s good for us to remember Jesus’ final hours. We can almost feel the agony if we take time to really reflect. What was Jesus, the King of Jews, feeling as he endured the mocking, the abuse, the pain coursing through every inch of his body?

These verses take us from Jesus’ second trial to his death on the cross, followed by his burial. It was only a span of hours. The leading priests, Pilate, the Roman officer, and Joseph of Arimathea all played their roles perfectly to complete God’s plan. Even the crowds of people were engaged in making sure a known criminal walked free rather than Jesus. Where had Jesus’ popularity gone?

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Luke 22:63-23:55 – Guilty or Not Guilty?

Read Luke 22:63-23:55

Reading about Jesus’ final hours can be an emotional encounter, especially when we put ourselves in the scene. We’ve been walking with Jesus to the cross, and today we arrive. Seeing it dramatized is also a very powerful way to remember. I’ll never forget the car ride home in silence after our family watched Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” when it first came out in theatres.

Sometimes we want to rush ahead to what happens next, but the first disciples didn’t know this was only the beginning of the miracle of all miracles. Let’s stay where we are in this moment, seeing our Savior’s sacrifice of love.

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Holy Week 2020 – Friday

Read Mark 15:16-39 and Luke 23:32-49

They call this Good Friday. What Jesus did for us is definitely good, but what the people did to Jesus is horrendous and mortifying. Doesn’t that contrast make it all the more powerful? The emotions that are swirling around as we read these texts can take our breath away. When it’s a familiar story like this, it can be even harder to really put yourself back in the moment. Close your eyes and picture the scene. Can you just about hear the mocking in the soldier’s voices? They were truly possessed by the evil one and totally blinded to the Son of God standing before them.

Even on our most difficult day, we have not endured such brutality. We cannot begin to imagine what it felt like to be beaten, spit on, jeered at, and then forced to carry a heavy cross to Calvary’s hill. I remember testing for black belt and feeling totally drained and beaten up after that. I wasn’t sure I could walk to the car to drive home. It was the most brutal thing I have ever done. In the midst of that test, I questioned everything I had ever known, been taught, and practiced. I had to be on alert even though my dripping sweat was burning my eyes. My spirit fought through every test. I remember calling on God many times to give me just what I needed for the next trial. I didn’t die. I was not even close to dying. When I think of Jesus’ torture I can only weep. His purpose for going through all that was for me. Because he loved me.

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