As the world is plagued with a pandemic that is keeping many at home. At least we have the company of our family members or close ones near us. Today is Good Friday, where Christians all over the world remember the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ as he was beaten and hung on the cross.
That first Good Friday, people lined the dusty streets of Jerusalem as the King of the Jews was led, like a sheep to the slaughter house, to the cross at Calvary. Despite the huge crowds, there was a huge separation between the Holiness of Christ and the defiled sinners who saw him off to death. A lonely journey to the cross, that lonely Friday.
At the cross, the Roman soldiers drove the nails through his hands and feet. Blow by blow, inch by inch, the fate of the King of the Jews looked bleak. As he cried out to his Father, “Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?”. The face of the Father turned away, as Jesus hung there on the cross. A lonely journey on the cross, that lonely Friday.
“It is finished”, as he breathed his last. Jesus, despised, scorned and left to die. The King of the Jews is dead! The veil in the temple was torn in two. The sacrifice was complete. The Sabbath day was here. His body taken down and tucked into a tomb, no one could attend to it. A lonely journey from the cross, that lonely Friday.
Today, I remember the loneliness of Jesus Christ to, on and from the cross. Church sanctuaries are empty this Good Friday, but I join with Christians all over the world, as we remember Christ’s complete submission of his will to the Father. The work that Jesus came to do is complete. Completed on that lonely Friday.
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