This Good Friday meditation, read at a service, was inspired by some railroad stakes we picked up while on holidays last summer near Canora, Ontario. These stakes are the closest objects I can think of to the implements that must have been used to crucify criminals in Jesus' time. May it be an encouragement today.
A Good Friday
Reflection
How utterly different…
How absolutely different… like the day and the night…
The nail,
crudely fashioned, rusty, jagged, unyielding yet
twisted…
not so much piercing as crushing to get the job done
a mechanical
industrial implement, hard, cold, rough, painful, heavy… crude
Human flesh,
The hands of Jesus, fearfully and wonderfully
made…
delicate and soft, precious, moist
Hands that give life, touch hearts,
feel pain, create, heal, bless…
Instruments of God
How utterly different…
How absolutely different…
The one on His right,
the other one on His left…
the other one on His left…
The one that provoked, demanding of Jesus,
“Save yourself and us, if you are indeed the Messiah!”
“Save yourself and us, if you are indeed the Messiah!”
The other one that simply asked,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”
“Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”
How utterly different…
how absolutely different…
The soldiers,
greedy and oblivious,
casting lots to divide up the clothes of a Saviour, dying on their behalf.
greedy and oblivious,
casting lots to divide up the clothes of a Saviour, dying on their behalf.
The Son of God,
gracious, compassionate, even unto death,
ensuring the future well-being of his exhausted mother Mary,
who gave her life for such a divine task.
gracious, compassionate, even unto death,
ensuring the future well-being of his exhausted mother Mary,
who gave her life for such a divine task.
How utterly different…
how absolutely different…
The fallen world,
filled with ceaseless violence, selfish pride,
impoverished, needy, shackled, alienated…
filled with ceaseless violence, selfish pride,
impoverished, needy, shackled, alienated…
The Kingdom of God,
where there is only light, only worship, only truth, only the glory of God,
present today and tomorrow wherever God reigns supreme
where there is only light, only worship, only truth, only the glory of God,
present today and tomorrow wherever God reigns supreme
Without blemish
holy
holy
holy
How utterly different…
how absolutely different…
The mob pulsates deliriously,
shouting, screaming,
“Take him away! Take him away!”
Pilate cowers, haggles, postures …
shouting, screaming,
“Take him away! Take him away!”
Pilate cowers, haggles, postures …
The crowd escalates
in its intense anger, frenzied protestation, and violent determination,
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
The silence of Jesus, the Son of God…
The silence of God, the Father…
How utterly different…
How absolutely different…
Yet, despite this… no, through
this…
the will of God, his divine plan for all of
humanity advances,
unwavering, with resolve and with truth,
steadily and silently.
steadily and silently.
For God, at that one moment, allowed the hard, crude nail to
pierce His hands, crush his feet. When those nails wedged themselves into bone
and flesh, It was as if our fallen world had crushed the realm of God;
the world, momentarily, was turned upside down.
Two realms, so fundamentally distant, so incompatible, collided, became entwined, one piercing the other, abandoning the other…
the world, momentarily, was turned upside down.
Two realms, so fundamentally distant, so incompatible, collided, became entwined, one piercing the other, abandoning the other…
The father’s loving gaze, the father’s being-with-the-Son…
suspended.
The darkness pierced our Saviour’s soul, condemnation flooded his
soul, He was alone in the world, abandoned,
distant from the Kingdom of Heaven… forsaken,
fatherless, Godless…
absolute death.
We glimpse the enormity of the step God took,
the risk he took,
to invite us back into a conversation with Him,
to welcome us back into the eternal dance with Him.
the risk he took,
to invite us back into a conversation with Him,
to welcome us back into the eternal dance with Him.
That’s what it took.
As we remember the death of Jesus, we remember the enormity
of the event.
Worlds that were utterly
different, absolutely different, like the day and the night… collided;
God’s
presence, momentarily suspended… so that
a new world, an utterly new world could be reigned in… “resurrected in”… into
our lives and into our hearts.
And we remember… how utterly changed we are, like the day and the night…
For though it was my rusted,
twisted, jagged heart that pierced his hands and crushed his soul, we are now transformed
to be a light in this world, now forgiven, now set free…
Not only do our hearts
ask humbly,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom…”,
but our hearts now know that we are given even more than we have asked,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom…”,
but our hearts now know that we are given even more than we have asked,
for He promises us that we are with Him for eternity
in His Kingdom,
in His glory…
in His Kingdom,
in His glory…
because the nails pierced His hands and His feet.
How utterly different…
how absolutely different…
Thanks be to God,
Amen
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