Daily Devotional

During passion week each year I love to think through each day of Jesus’ journey to the cross.

Palm Sunday - Jesus officially presented to Israel (Lk.19:29-44; Mt.21:11-17)
Monday - Cleansing the temple (Mk.11:12-18; Jn.12:20-50)
Tuesday - Christ’s authority being challenged (Mk.11:19-25; Mt.21:23-23:39)
Wednesday - The plot to kill Jesus (Mt.26:1-16)
Thursday - The Last Supper (Lk.22:7-20; Jn.13:1-38) Gethsemane (Mt.26:30-46)
Friday - Arrest, Trial, Torture and Crucifixion (Mt.26:47-27:44)

Throughout the week I am overwhelmed with thankfulness as I think about His love for me; that He would willingly give His life for mine. He was sinless, having done nothing deserving of death, but I had. And He died the death I deserved to die.

When Good Friday arrives, as hard as it is, I take time to think about His suffering. For me, I picture the scenes in Mel Gibson’s movie “Passion of The Christ”. The first time I saw “Passion of the Christ” it was at a large church in Chicago. It was a preview for Pastors prior to its opening in theaters. There were 5,000 people there. And they brought in Mel Gibson for an interview after the film ended. He shared about the sadness the actors and directors felt in the making of this film depicting Christ’s passion. When the movie ended, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. It captured Christ’s suffering in a way no other movie ever has.

But I can’t celebrate Good Friday without thinking about His resurrection, otherwise I get depressed. But the story of Good Friday is not intended to be depressing, it’s meant to be encouraging. It’s a story of God’s love for us in sending His only begotten Son Jesus to die for our sin. It’s a story of victory.

One of the most meaningful Good Friday services I’ve ever been part of was called a Tenebrae service (a service of darkness). We set up seven individual candles across the front of the platform. And we read Scriptures which share the narrative of Christ’s journey to the cross. And at the end of each narrative, we sing a song, and then extinguish a candle. As each candle is extinguished, the house and stage lighting is turned down a notch. By the final reading the reader has to have a light on the podium because the sanctuary is almost completely dark. The reader reads Luke 23:44-46 “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.' Having said this, He breathed His last.”

At the end of that reading the final candle is extinguished and the sanctuary goes completely dark. And for about a minute we sit silently in the darkness meditating on all we’ve heard. Then a soprano will break the silence and start to sing the great old hymn “Were You There”.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, were you there when they crucified my Lord? 
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble.

After she finishes, we sit for about 30 seconds in silence, and then the Pastor goes to the center candle and relights it, breaking the darkness. Then he goes to the podium and talks about the fact that Jesus is no longer in the grave. Yes, today is a ‘dark day’ where we celebrate Christ’s death and technically we have to wait till Sunday to celebrate His resurrection. But we want to send people off from our Good Friday service knowing that Good Friday is not the end of the story. The story ends with Christ’s resurrection. At the cross He conquered sin. At His resurrection He conquered death. He is alive.

That is our hope. We accept what Christ did for us at the cross as the only payment acceptable before God for our sin. And when we invite Him into our hearts asking Him to forgive us for our sins, He comes in and makes us a new creation. That’s the hope of Easter.

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