![]() ![]() What we are seeing when we look at the cross of Jesus is God's righteous judgment against our sin. There is a lot more taking place here than simply the harshness of Roman justice, more than mere human cruelty, more than just the barbarism of an earlier and more violent day and age. Our bad feelings about the suffering and death of Jesus become even more intense if we are honest enough and brave enough to acknowledge and think about the real reason for this ghastly episode of violence and torment. They were put on display, together with the charge against them, as if to say to those passing by, "This is how you will end up if you do what he did." The very thought that humans beings are capable of such cruelty to their own makes us recoil in disgust. It was not uncommon for crucified men to hang on their crosses, naked and in agony, for several days before they mercifully breathed their last. This method of capital punishment was intended to be more than just putting a man to death it was to totally humiliate him in the eyes of all and at the same time to make a public example of him. We hear and read every day on the news reports about various sentences that are handed down in our courts that are thought by many to be "cruel and unusual punishment," and yet there is nothing in the world that can compare with the cruelty of crucifixion. The suffering and death of our Savior is something for us to feel bad about because it arouses within us bad feelings as we think about the extent of His suffering. As we sit this evening in spirit at foot of Jesus' cross, let's gaze upon the Crucified One with an eye for what there is here for us to feel bad about and grieve over and what there is for us to feel good about and to rejoice in. They are something so sad that they make us scratch our heads with wonder at how such suffering can possibly be inflicted or endured, and yet they give us the joy of salvation that carries us even through our darkest days of uncertainty and grief. They are something terrible-even to the point of being inhuman, and yet they are something wonderful-even to the point of being divine. The suffering and death of Jesus are all of these things. Is the crucifixion of Jesus something good or something bad? Is it something that we should be joyful about or something that should make us feel sad? The answer to all of these questions is yes. Good Friday conjures up within us these ambiguous feelings for the simple reason that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ conjure up ambiguous feelings within us. Our joy in Christ is subdued somewhat today with a seriousness that we don't see or feel very often anymore in this world that we live in-a world that is often characterized by self-indulgence and frivolity. Even we come together this evening with mixed feelings of a sort: We are the same people that we always are, gathered together in the same spirit of thanksgiving to the same Lord, but tonight we come with a somewhat different mood and demeanor. For some Christians of a high liturgical orientation today is the only day in the church year when the Lord's Supper is not celebrated. Many Christians, out of devotion to their Savior, choose to observe a fast on this day. On this day, unlike any other, the chancels of Christian churches all over the world are either adorned in black or left bare. It is called "Good" Friday, and yet it seems to take on the appearance of being anything but good. This particular day of the church year has every appearance of being a day that seems to be somewhat ambiguous. He was wounded for our transgressions He was crushed for our iniquities upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. ![]()
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