SCRIPTURE When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54
“While Lent is the journey into the most significant event of human history, the three great days [Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Saturday night Great Paschal Vigil] are a life-changing experience of God’s saving work in history. For Christians there is no time throughout the entire Christian year that is more crucial than the three great days. These are days to be set aside to enter into a worship that is the source of our entire spirituality, a moment in time that defines all time for Christians, a moment in time that is the very sum and substance of our spirituality for every season, every week, every Sunday, and every moment of every day. . . . It is imperative for the church to go beyond its present practice to recover the fullness of the three great days and to impress upon us all how important these days are, not only as historical events to be remembered but as events to be lived in our own dying to sin and rising to the new life of the Spirit. For herein lies the source and energy of our spiritual lives.“
Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year
THOUGHT Rarely could we find a more mixed crowd than at the cross. Weeping women, scoffing religious elite, dying thieves, disinterested Roman soldiers, a mocking crowd, a foreigner pressed into carrying the cross, and at least one former fisherman.
As the day fades, one of the thieves stops his insults and asks Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom (Lk. 23:43). Jesus comforts his mother by giving her a protector (Jn. 19:26), the mocking crowd goes home sobered (Lk.23:48), and the Roman centurion and his guard make amazing confession that Jesus is, indeed, the Son of God. Pilate has ordered the correct sign above his head – in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek just so no one can miss it: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS (Jn. 19:19-22).
The religious elite are the only ones who seem to leave like they came, full of hatred for this God-man who dared challenge their superiority. They flip the narrative, as so often happens in our world, suggesting that if God loves Jesus, he can prove it by delivering him.
Ironically, because the Triune God loves them, Jesus won’t come down before the full penalty is paid. It’s the dying proof (and living truth) of Good Friday, but they can’t appreciate it.
PRAYER Jesus, thank you that in both life and death, you provide one singular narrative that never changes. You are the Son of God, sent to bring good news to a broken world.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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