Devotional Good Friday 2014
Good Friday
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah
52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42
“He took the punishment and that
made us whole. Through his bruises we
get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve
wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all
done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong on him, on
him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like
a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.” Isaiah 53: 4-7 The Message
translation
I attended the Huntington performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar” a
week ago. The musical was first
presented in 1971 and the language and music are very modern. And although the musical setting is quite
different, the message of the lyrics is very similar to the words of Isaiah
found in “The Messiah”. You can feel the
heartaches, miseries and sorrow of Jesus’ death on the cross captured in the
music of both. I cannot begin to fathom
the courage it would take to willingly die for another, let alone for all of
humankind. And on top of willingly submitting to the humiliation without
presenting a defense, the crucifixion is cruel and unusual punishment. What was
God thinking??? This method would not be
a “human” way to solve the sin-issue.
And yet, that is exactly the purpose of the death of Jesus. Jesus willingly took on ALL our sins, so that
we would be cleansed of them. He made a
way THROUGH the valley, so that we could join him in paradise. What an amazing
sacrifice. When I ponder the choice that Jesus made to die for MY sins, I am
humbled and overwhelmed. I cannot even
get my mind wrapped around the sins of us ALL.
But, God’s grace is so much greater than my imagination and thinking
abilities. I know God goes before us to
lead us to grace. He goes along with us through all the ups and downs of
life—we are never alone. He embraces us with so much love that we don’t always
believe it is for us. And then God whispers and calls us BY NAME! YOU
ARE MINE!
And all of this love was poured out on us from the cross—a cruel way to
die by anyone’s standards. He willingly
gave his life so that I could be cleansed of my sins. The sins I keep
committing in spite of my best and worst efforts. AND he never gives up. God is relentless in his pursuit of us—his
love is that powerful.
“For God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
Prayer: What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my
soul; What
wondrous love is this, O my soul! What
wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse
for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
Chyrl Budd
Labels: Budd C
1 Comments:
Your devotional was beautiful. I'm sure God smiled because you are one of his favorites.
Nice work Sis.
Love you,
Debbie
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