(For) FRIDAY, APRIL 18, GOOD FRIDAY, THE 39TH DAY OF LENT 2025

 John 19

Pilate had Jesus flogged.

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus' head.

The soldier's mocked him and slapped him in the face repeatedly.

The chief priests and temple servants shouted, "Crucify him!"

At about noon when Pilate took Jesus out to the people, the Jews yelled, "Crucify him!" Then Pilate handed him over to be crucified. Pilate did try to release him, but to no avail. The crowd wanted Jesus dead. Pilate stood firm in keeping the wording he chose for the sign he had written to hang above Jesus on the cross: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF TH JEWS. 

We know from other Gospel writers that far more than this happened to Jesus. He was beaten, whipped, spat on, indecently exposed, lied about. 

Everything that happened to him is what we deserve - but he paid the price. He bore it all for humanity, that we could have life and have it to the full. 

Those who saw him die that day thought it was over. It was the blackest of Fridays, and now we can call it Good!

JOURNEY TO RESURRECTION, Day 40!

This is it! The commitment to the daily discipline of writing on my blog is completed for this season! My commitment challenges me on days I don't 'feel' like writing - but I completed what I set out to do - and in the process, God always teaches me.

Focusing only on the book of John has been interesting, because I know there are lots of details he doesn't mention. But - when he writes about something he experienced firsthand, I pay attention. Some of the Gospel writers wrote from personal experience, some wrote what they heard from others. Even eye witness accounts vary - - we know that from accident reports - - but it has been instructive in a minimalist way to see events limited to what I see through John's writing....

And - there have been little things I've noted, such as one that intrigued me yesterday, though I didn't write about it. It must have taken incredible restraint for the angels to not come destroy all of mankind and free Jesus from the cruel suffering He endured. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was stripped down to his loincloth and suspended between earth and sky for all to gaze upon and ridicule. The angels were obedient to His plan, thank God.

Joseph of Arimathea got permission from Pilate to take Jesus' corpse, and with Nicodemus' help (you remember Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus by night) the two men buried Jesus in a garden tomb where no one had ever before been laid.

I've been to the hill just outside the old city that fits the description - and to a tomb there that could have been the very one in which they laid His body. Our tour group had communion in a little cave chapel at the Garden Tomb site. It was a very tender site to visit. It resonated as "This is the place!"

From 3 p m on Friday, throughout Saturday and until sometime near dawn on Sunday morning - part of 3 days that totaled 39 or 40 hours at the most, Jesus body lay in the tomb. John tells us absolutely nothing about the disciples. We know without wondering that they were devastated and confused, as well as fearful for what would happen to them as his followers. What a shock! Just the past Sunday Jesus rode through the streets, hailed as King, and now He was dead....

I had a poignant reminder yesterday of how quickly life can change. Fortunately our story has a happy ending - but today I could have been a widow. That reality is not lost on me as I consider the Lenten journey as it endures the cross and the seeming hopelessness of the One who is Hope lying in the cold stone cave.

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus My Savior; waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord....

I can't wait for tomorrow! They didn't understand then what we get to see in retrospect! Jesus words, "It is finished!" make our life complete! It is finished indeed!!!!!!!

JOURNEY TO RESURRECTION, Day 39

I just watched a music video that portrays Jesus on His walk to the cross.... It was posted on a blog I read every entry of...and I borrowed it and posted the song to Facebook in honor of Good Friday. I'd post it here, too, but I'm not a savvy techie, and I don't now how to do that.

I only woke up once in the night last night - because the dog was barking. In +-33 AD, approximately 1979 years ago, Jesus got no sleep at all.

The Jewish Friday began at 6 p m on what is Thursday evening to us. In 2010, the first year I wrote a blog, I took 10 days to cover all that happened that day, most of it under 'Backtracking to Good Friday' headings. This morning I went back and read some of what I wrote and it made me cry.

What a horrible awful day! Good for us - and because it was good for us, He suffered beyond belief.... He was tried illegally and unfairly, beaten mercilessly until He was beyond recognition, thrown into a dark pit during part of the night, bleeding and alone, slugged, spat on, ridiculed ....rejected.

One of the most memorable spots for me when we visited Israel in February 2011 was the pit beneath St Peter En Gallicantu Church (Church of the Crowing Rooster). Originally it had just one entrance - a small hole at the top just large enough to lower a person through. Now, there are openings carved out so it can be viewed - and there are stairs down into it, and lighting.... But standing down in the pit with eyes closed the emotions are overwhelming. Just a few days before He was acclaimed by the crowds as King; and the pit - a part of His reality during that awful night - is a representation of the rejection He experienced, while led back and forth between those who should have been instruments of justice. He became a prisoner, so He could set captives free....

Even Peter denied Him. Jesus warned Peter ahead of time that he would, and I have no doubt that Peter vowed not to let Jesus' words come true - but they did!

During His night of trials, Jesus was interviewed by Pilate, who rightfully found no fault in Him. Thinking he was being very clever, Pilate offered the crowd the opportunity to free Jesus as part of their adopted custom of Passover. Shockingly, they chose Barabbas.

Jesus' responses to Pilate's questioning (recorded for us in John 18) affirmed Jesus was King, but His kingdom was not of this world. It was the purpose for which He came into the world - to bring salvation to mankind and rule in the hearts of man.

As an old song states, "A rugged cross became His throne. His Kingdom was in hearts alone. He wrote His love in crimson red, and wore the thorns upon His head."

For this He came....

Song lyrics flood through my mind:

Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Oh precious is the flow
That makes me white as sow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

And a little chorus God gave me in +-2000: (to a calypso beat!)
I don't deserve Your love. I don't deserve the life you have reserved for me.
I don't deserve Your love. I don't deserve the grace with which You set me free.
I don't deserve that You, the Son of God, died on the cross for me.
I don't deserve Your love, but thank you, Lord, that You give it to me - so freely!
I don't deserve Your love, but than You, Lord, that You give it to me.

Thank You for the cross, Lord....and thank You that IT IS FINISHED!