Friday,
March 18, 2016
Go to VIDEO
Because
God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became
flesh and blood. For only as a human
being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil,
who had the power of death. Only in this way could
he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15(NLT)
A week from tonight the candle will
flicker and go out. For some years now
Good Friday has been one of my favored services of worship. There is something about the readings depicting
Christ’s mission and passion, the mournfulness of songs rehearsing His
suffering, blood and death, and the silence, which grips my soul and moves me
to tears.
Sounds like a crowd-pleaser, eh? Well, if it’s truly a Christian crowd….well, then
yes!
It’s been so long ago I cannot recall
where I read the story of the little boy who was sitting with his parents in
church watching a quite realistic dramatic presentation of Jesus being nailed
to the cross. The church drama team had
gone to great lengths to recreate the bloody scene, complete with the pounding
of spikes into the hands and feet of Jesus.
They hoisted him up and the scene ended with a loud gasping cry of the
Savior, and then His limp head and body hanging pitifully in the picture of
death. The little boy was heard as he
whispered a question to his Dad: Why
did Jesus have’ta die?
Indeed; good question, little man!
The writer of Hebrews recorded the
answer to our child’s question two millennia before it was asked: by dying, and then rising from the dead,
Jesus broke the power of death.
Scripture tells us that the wages
of sin is death[2]. This is the echo of Adam and Eve’s punishment
in the Garden of Eden. The first sin
introduced death to Adam’s race, and we have been choosing that pathway ever
since.
And that has been the theological “pickle”
for humankind ever since.
As sin requires the penalty of death,
no human being can actually pay that penalty and still have life. It is a debt we are all powerless to meet. Jesus’ sinless life as a human being meant he was
without that debt, and when he submitted willingly to die on the cross, the
power of sin was broken eternally.
So…the correct answer for our little
man’s question in the church crowd is that Jesus had to die…for us…for our sins…to
take away the penalty of the power of sin.
And a better question is also
answered by this same moment of the flickering candle going out on Friday, when
the light of the world seemed to be extinguished on Calvary’s hill:
· The question – what does it mean that Jesus got
out of the grave?
· The answer – it means He lives…and He
said we could too!
For You Today
Maybe today is a good day to
pull out that calendar and make sure nothing will interfere with you attending
the events of Holy Week at your church.
You don’t really have
anything better to celebrate than that; do you?
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