Good Friday

Tonight, in our encounter with Jesus on the cross, we come face to face with two realities.

The first is exactly what sin is and what it does.

It's very tempting to look at our own sins and think, "They're not so bad. I'm basically a good person - I haven't killed anybody."

That may be true - we may not have committed any big dramatic sins - but every time we choose our own will over God's, every time we choose selfishness over love, we are choosing to put Jesus on that cross.

He gave himself on the cross, he chose to suffer what he did, not for some generic sense of fighting evil, but for my sins, for your sins. Something I did today or will do tomorrow. Something that I rationalize as not such a big deal.

It is our choices that require so great a sacrifice. It is our refusal to love that Jesus bled and died to overcome. We can never lose sight of that. When we look at a crucifix, we come face to face with exactly what sin does - it kills. Jesus took the result of our sin and willingly suffered it.

But we also come face to face with love himself.

The reason Jesus was willing to undergo such pain, to take on the full weight of every sin ever committed and every sin that ever will be committed, was his overwhelming, unconditional love for us.

Yes, we see ugliness and suffering in the story of the Passion - but, far more than that, we see love. It was love that enabled Jesus to go on, to finish his task.

This great love decided that you and I were worth all that pain. The passion and death of Jesus is a testament to what God thinks of the human race.

Now, if we're worth God's death, what does that say about us?

It means that we have dignity. We have a meaning and a purpose that does not come from ourselves. Our creator gave everything for us because we were made for a great destiny.

We're not destined for just comfort or pleasure.
We're not just random combinations of cells that will disappear once we die.

We were made for love.

We are children of God for whom God has given everything. He came and lived among us so that there is hope for our failures, our addictions, and our suffering.

We can't free ourselves from our sins. It's impossible. The only chance we had was if God came and did it for us.

Tonight, we stand at the foot of the cross and we look into our savior's eyes. The one who hangs on that cross chose to be there for us.

Let us choose to live for him.