THANKFUL

Chatting with Jesus

Good Friday, March 29, 2024

Lord, we call this day “Good Friday” but it certainly wasn’t good for you. Throughout history, innocent people have been railroaded, unjustly accused, punished for crimes they didn’t commit. Your Good Friday’s ordeal fits those criteria.

Beginning with your illegal arrest Thursday night and the hastily conducted sham trial by compromised religious leaders, the verdict had to be nothing short of death (John 18 through 20). The bloodthirsty mob demanded crucifixion and turned you over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, for execution.

Pilate knew you were innocent, but to please the religious mob, he ordered you to be flogged. Flogging involved thirty-nine lashes by a leather whip whose straps had spiked lead tips that tore apart the flesh upon impact. Most flogging victims did not survive.  Only the most gruesome, evil, soul-less soul enjoyed performing this horrid procedure.

This would be the first stop on your way to the cross. When the soldiers tore off your cloak and tied you over the post, would we be surprised if you turned to the punisher, whose eerie gleeful grin would unnerve anyone, anxious to turn your pure, holy back into hamburger, and said, “I forgive you. Do what you have to do.”

How would he react? Stunned? Probably. “Have you any idea what I’m about to do to you?” he may have said.

How would I react? Lord, forgive me. My sins put that whip in my hand. With every sin I commit, I put a lash on your back. Those lashes should have been on me, not you.

Six hundred years prior, the prophet Isaiah foretold this unfair punishment on you as part of your redemption plan from our [my] sins (Isaiah 53:4–6). You could have stopped this brutality at any moment and left mankind forever doomed. But you didn’t.

Maybe we should also call Good Friday, “Forgiveness Friday.”

Amen, Jesus.