Good Friday Meditation

The Epistle Lesson for tonight's Tenebrae service is 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, which reads:

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

"16From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Why is this day called Good Friday? It is the day that Christ suffered so that we who are sinners might receive forgiveness and become good - that we might receive the righteousness of God.

Good Friday is the day that things change. The earth quakes. The skies are blackened. The temple curtain is torn from top to bottom. Even the pagan soldier is forced to acknowledge that Christ is the Son of God. But the biggest wonder is that Christ Himself takes up our sin, our guilt, and crucifies it. This is why Paul can say that we ourselves have died with Christ. The reason death comes is because of sin, and sin has been put to death on Good Friday. The world shifts, the world twists, the the doom and curse that was laid upon man is done away with.

The crucifixion of our Lord is an awe inspiring thing - more than a brief e-mail can contain. Come to Church this day - be it at our Tre Ore' service (noon til three, stay as long as you wish) or at the Tenebrae tonight at 7 (or at whatever services are going on in your locale). Spend some time pondering the very definition of Christian love - God giving His only Son.

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +