Good Friday

For paying my debt, thank You Jesus.

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
— Despite my scourging, mocking, spitting, and condemnation, You meet me with mercy. In the midst of your own death, You cry out to Your Father to save me from my own. I wrestle with praying for my enemies, yet time and time again, here You are. Praying for ME. Having mercy on ME. I am the one who deserves death. Yet You have brought me new life.

“Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
— I have managed to spend my time stealing from You and Your people, cheating everyone of all things honest. And yet again, You humbly display Your nature to me. Truly this is the Christ! And who am I, that You should gift me with eternal life? With you? Forever? In my desperate repentance, You meet me there. Every. Single. Time.

“Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.”
— In the face of death, You still managed to take care of the very one who had always taken care of You. Your Beloved, no longer an orphan, and Your own mother, finally an eternal family with the Angels and the Saints. How great their trust in You! When all the others fled, You saw their faithfulness, and great was their reward.

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
— You not only love me because You are omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; You love me because You are one with me. You share in my feelings of confusion and distance, shouting for Abba, ‘where did You go?’ ‘Surely, You didn’t leave Me?’ Yet Your trust greater than mine, for You knew that His plan was shortly going to be made complete in You.

“I thirst.”
— Fully God, fully man. You ached as your wounds tore back open with splinters from that crooked tree. Your body was broken, yet You still thirst for relationship with me? The meal had not been complete, for You had left abruptly before the Fourth Cup.

“It is finished.”
— Your Passion had been endured, and You were ready to drink from the Last Cup. The Lamb had been broken, and the Paschal Feast was almost complete.

“Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.”
— At last, eternity with the Father was waiting for You. In the very moment You cried out to the Father, the Father cried back to You, as well. ‘You are my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’

The veil had been torn.

And death thought he had the last word;

[ Luke 23:34-45 ]