The best of all Good days

This is the best of all good days.

It's Good Friday.  The day when Christians all over the world remember the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this doesn't seem like it should be a good day.  It certainly wouldn't have seemed good for the followers of Jesus.  Their Lord, the one they believed to be the Messiah, had been betrayed, arrested, tortured, mocked, and condemned to death.  Finally he was nailed to a cross.

And he died.  He really, truly died.

It seemed as if the Messiah wasn't who everyone thought he had been.  "If you are the Son of God," the soldiers and religious leaders taunted, "come down from there!"

I'm sure his mother, his disciples, those who loved and followed him, wondered why he didn't come down from the cross.

Why he endured unimaginable suffering.  Why he responded to their angry jeers with sad silence.

They couldn't know, then, the magnitude of what he was doing.  The Messiah, the Savior, suffered in near-silence, speaking only to utter words of forgiveness, words to fulfill prophecies made about him hundreds of years before... with the weight of the world's sin on his sinless shoulders.

He suffered so that we would not have to.  He took on himself what we deserve and endured separation from God himself so that we would never experience such grief, such guilt.

That's why today is called Good...

Image credit:  Iamnee via www.freedigitalphotos.net

Because we know that on another Friday, so long ago, Jesus paid the price for our sins.  He took our guilt and punishment on himself so we would know his forgiveness.  So that we would not die eternally, but would instead spend eternity with him in heaven.

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?

A Demonstration of Selfless Love: Reflections on Monday of Holy Week

This weekend, my husband demonstrated the beauty of what real love in marriage is all about.

I was sick all day Friday, and then pushed myself too much Saturday morning and was tired the rest of the day, and much of yesterday as well.  I slept a lot.  I didn't cook at all on Friday, and not till supper on Saturday.  Supper yesterday was the first real meal we've eaten together, that I cooked, all weekend.

But has my husband complained?  Not one bit.  He's even helped with the dishes.  He encouraged me to rest.  He just quietly did his own thing while I was sleeping and recovering.  He was sweet and helpful on Friday when I was feeling the crummiest.  He stayed home from class to take care of me.  He even brought me 7-Up because we didn't have any in the house.  He's made me tea, brought me blankets, adjusted the heat when my feverish self went from cold to hot and back again, and kept me company.  We spent a lot of time playing LEGO Lord of the Rings on the PS-3 this weekend (perfect activity to do when one is sick; using the video game controller takes virtually no energy!).

He hasn't even complained about the fact that I've done no housework all weekend, that I was the most boring wife imaginable (I don't even know how many hours I slept the last three days!), or that he had to fend for himself in the kitchen (although he's perfectly capable of feeding himself :) ).

Can I just say, my husband is awesome.  He's loved me like crazy this whole weekend without expecting or asking anything in return.

He's demonstrating to me Christ-like love: selfless love, love that gives without expecting to get.  Yet another reason why I love my husband so much.  He models Jesus to me.

And, what a lovely coincidence, this happens to be the week that we remember the days that Jesus demonstrated his love for us in the most radical, selfless, incredible way possible.

He gave his life for us.  And in the days leading up to his death on the cross, Jesus spent his time teaching his disciples, preparing them for what would happen in the days ahead, giving them spiritual encouragement and strength, and loving them.  "As I have loved you," he said, "love one another." (John 13:34-35)

It's actually not possible for us to perfectly love one another in the way Christ loved us.  We're human, after all, and it's only by the power of God that we're able to love at all.  But by his grace, we can demonstrate that kind of selfless love for each other, motivated by what Christ has done for us.  His love for us is so great that he willingly died for all people--even though they didn't all love him.  "God shows his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  (Romans 5:8)

That's the kind of perfect love I will never be able to achieve, but it is the love that, by God's grace, I am so thankful to receive.

How have you seen the love of Christ active in your life this weekend?

Linking with:  A Proverbs 31 Wife, Grits and Grace, What Joy is Mine, The Alabaster Jar, Raising Arrows, The Better Mom, Countrified Hicks, Yes They're All Ours

Look to the Cross

This morning during my Bible reading I read Psalm 22.  This psalm is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  It includes many details which Jesus' passion would fulfill many hundreds of years later.
"All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 'He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him.  Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.'" (v 7-8)
"I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my garments among them and cast lost for my clothing." (v 14-18)

A little later this morning I read a blog post by my friend Sara, discussing one of my favorite hymns, Water, Blood and Spirit Crying.  She quotes Stephen Starke, who wrote the text, and who said in his explanation of it, "To look for God we need look no farther than the cross."

I mentioned to Joshua while we were eating breakfast that it seemed that I was being led to focus on Good Friday today--interesting since it's a foggy, damp Monday.  Joshua replied that every day is a good day to ponder the events of that Friday so long ago.  He's right.

What Jesus did for me that day should be in my heart and my thoughts every day, because it was that sacrifice of his that makes it possible for me to live each day in his grace, and to have the hope of eternity in heaven.

The horrors that Jesus experienced aren't pleasant to think about.  I'm not suggesting that I let the awful details of his torture and death pervade my thoughts constantly; I would never be able to think about anything else if I was only focused on that.  But the reality is that Jesus' death, and his resurrection, are the reasons that I have God's forgiveness--and it is only because of that that I can love, obey and serve him.

The text of the hymn Water, Blood and Spirit Crying is worth reading in its entirety:

Hymn Text:  Water, Blood, and Spirit Crying (Lutheran Service Book 597)

1. Water, blood, and Spirit crying,
    By their witness testifying
    To the One whose death-defying
       Life has come, with life for all.

2. In a wat'ry grave are buried
    All our sins that Jesus carried;
    Christ, the Ark of Life, has ferried
       Us across death's raging flood.

3. Dark the way, yet Christ precedes us,
    Past the scowl of death He leads us;
    Spreads a table where He feeds us
      With His body and His blood.

4. Through around us death is seething,
    God, His two-edged sword unsheathing,
    By His Spirit life is breathing
       Through the living, active Word.

5. Spirit, water, blood entreating,
    Working faith and its completing
    In the One whose death-defeating
       Life has come, with life for all.

Let us rejoice in Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross; and let us live every day in the joy which his forgiveness gives us.

He Conquered, He Rose, He Lives!

He didn't stay dead.
He didn't stay in that tomb, given by the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea.
He didn't stay humiliated by Satan.

He conquered: Satan, sin, death.
He rose: Out of the tomb, by the power of God.
He lives: death was brief, life is eternal.

Christ went to hell, but not to be punished.  He went to declare his victory to Satan.  Death is vanquished, life is won.  Sin is powerless, grace and forgiveness reign.

And the resurrection of Jesus isn't a nice story about a nice man.  It was a real-life miracle, it happened in a real place and time in history, and it was the most life-changing event in history.  It had eternal, glorious repercussions for all of humanity.  Because Christ was raised from the dead, having taken the debt to death that we paid, we also have life.

In 1 Corinthians 15 we read, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith... If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (15:13-14, 19-22).

In Christ Alone

This is one of my favorite contemporary hymns, and a beautiful video to go with it!

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTic5anwNA8zIt6x82x9NYZJ4Z8NeX2o7JDtg4LBC_iDmgZ_jZQ

The Grace of Good Friday

The greatest grace of Good Friday, I think, is not simply that Jesus died to take away our sins.  He died so that we wouldn't have to.

I realized this yesterday, at the Good Friday service led by my future father-in-law.  (Church is really a family thing when we're with my future in-laws!)

He read Isaiah 53 as part of the sermon.  "He was pierced for our transgressions..." instead of us.  "He was bruised for our iniquities..." instead of us.  "The punishment that brought us peace was upon him..." instead of us.


In a real time and place in history, Christ hung on a cross and bore every sin of every person who ever lived.  He endured the wrath of God his Father, experiencing hell so that we wouldn't have to.  He felt what it was like to be completely separated from God.  He felt the pain, the guilt, the shame of every sin ever committed.

And he did it out of love for mankind, because he wanted us to be able to spend eternity with him.  He wants me to live in heaven with him forever!  And he made it possible for that to happen.

He even, in his death, took away the sins I haven't committed yet.  When I do sin, I'm forgiven the second I repent.  My debt has already been paid.  My guilt is gone.  Because of Christ's sacrifice.

Not only did he sacrifice himself, the perfect Lamb of God, the sacrifice for all sin, in his Deity he conquered sin and death completely and was not bound by it.  The power of Satan is no power against the might of God.  Christ did not stay dead; he rose and lives and reigns in heaven, for all eternity.

This is love.  This is forgiveness.  This is grace.  This is Gospel: Jesus.

He Did it All for Me

He left his throne on heaven,
glory, majesty, honor,
to be born in a little stable:
dirty, smelly, dark.

He was born to the virgin Mary,
young, scared, naive.
He was raised by the carpenter Joseph,
Poor, strong, and wise.

He grew as a child of man,
Learning, growing, serving.
And as a child of God,
Wise, faithful, perfect.

He chose his twelve disciples,
Men, ordinary, special.
He taught them who he was:
The Way, the Truth, the Life.

He prepared for his own death,
teaching, serving, loving.
He cried out to his Father,
humbly, sadly, willingly.

He let himself be taken,
Beaten, scorned, and mocked.
He let them crucify him,
Nailing, pounding, killing.

He gave up his own life,
Gladly, willingly, painfully.
He took it up again,
Victoriously, joyfully.

He went back to his father,
Glorified, honored, majestic.
He will come back again:
God, Savior, Friend.

And he did it all
for me.
For you.
For the world.

Holy Week: Psalm 22

This morning in chapel we used the Taize service (check out this website for information on the Taize community).  It was meditative and contemplative and it really got me into the mindset of this Holy Week.  I definitely needed that today.

One of the readings was Psalm 22.  It's a psalm that David wrote when he was in great distress and being severely persecuted by his enemies.  But it's also a very prophetic psalm, the most-quoted psalm in the New Testament, and gives very detailed prophecies of Jesus' passion and crucifixion.  It's read--chanted, actually-- by my dad every Maundy Thursday at my home church, as the altar is stripped in preparation for the solemnity of Good Friday.

I wondered, listening to those ancient words being read today, if David had any idea that the Messiah would suffer what he was suffering, only to a much greater degree.  Did he know that he was describing what Jesus would do as he paid the price for the sins of the whole world?  Did David have any idea how important and meaningful his words were?

The words of the psalm made me think once again about the agony Jesus went through.  It's almost more than can be described.  And yet, he did it willingly.  He did it out of love, completely by choice, not deserving the treatment he was getting.  He did it for every person in the world, whether they would accept it or not.  He died.  For me.

That's almost too much to fathom.

His grace, his love, his incredible forgiveness, all given to me.

That's what he did that day.

Holy Week: Monday

This week I'm going to read the accounts of what Jesus did each day of the last week before his crucifixion.  My Bible (the NIV Study Bible) has a timeline of what event took place on what day.  I'm sure if I studied the accounts myself thoroughly I could see how they determine what happened when.  In any case, the events that happened on Monday were Jesus cursing a fig tree, and his cleansing of the Temple (See Matthew 21:12-13, 18-19, and Mark 11:12-18).  I'm not going to get into any deep interpretation of the passages, just pondering what happened during this holiest of weeks.

Considering that yesterday was Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, I imagine that his disciples were pretty pleased with how things were going.  Jesus had entered on a donkey, true, not on a horse as a conquering king would.  But he had been awfully well received!  The people had praised and honored him.  They were glad to have Jesus in Jerusalem.

This Monday morning, on their way into Jerusalem, the disciples witnessed Jesus curse a fig tree that had no fruit on it, despite the fact that it was full of leaves.  He explained his reason for this to them the next day.

Upon entering the Temple, he drove out the people who were selling livestock to be offered for Passover sacrifices, and those who were changing money for pilgrims who had come for the Passover.  Jesus was indignant because the money-changers were cheating people, and in turning the Temple into a marketplace they had desecrated the house of God.  After the Temple was clear, Jesus healed the blind and lame people who came to him there, while the religious leaders watched indignantly.

I wonder if the disciples were as shocked and angry at the proceedings happening in the Temple as Jesus was, or if they were more shocked at his response.  Perhaps some of the people there were among the ones who had praised him just the day before.  Didn't he know that?  Didn't he know he would offend them?  Did he have the right to throw the merchants out of the Temple? the disciples might have wondered.

When Jesus cleared out the temple, he said, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers'" (Matt 21:13).  Did the disciples know who he was by then?  Did they know he was the son of God?  Did they have any idea what the end of that week would be like?  Did they realize how much he was still teaching them, as his time with them neared its end?

I wonder how Jesus was feeling at this point.  He knew it was only four short days until he would have to die. Not permanently, of course, but he would have to experience the complete and utter wrath of his Father.  But then he would rise again, and the course of human history would be altered for the salvation of many.  And yet he continued preaching, healing, and teaching his disciples.  He carried on as if very little was changing.  This is an example I could follow; we all could.  Right now I have one month and eleven days until my wedding.  I can hardly wait; I just want that day to get here, and yet I have school work to finish and a dorm room to pack and finals to take, and it's hard when I'm so focused on the wedding.  But I can, and should, make the most of every day, doing my best, continuing to serve and work hard, and think of others more than myself--as Jesus did.

The same thing can apply to believers who are anxiously awaiting Christ's return.  We don't know when it will happen; Jesus said that only the Father knows the day or hour (Mark 13:32-33).  So instead of sitting around and waiting for him to come again, we can be constantly ready, constantly serving, living our lives to his glory as best as we can every day.

[If you've stuck with me through this whole post, I realize it's not very insightful or poetic or theological today, but I was just writing what was on my thoughts.]