on good friday

This is a day, Lord Jesus, I fear I cannot possibly understand the depth of sorrow, anguish and torment You experienced. Your body was scourged, beaten, broken. A sick mockery of justice committed upon the very Author of justice. You willingly submitted Yourself into their hands, their unholy and unrighteous hands, for Your Father's will. You said that You are the Son of the Most High; You are love and justice and beauty. They took the Perfect and they broke You.

O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as You will. Matthew 26:39

Lord Jesus, in the depths of Your darkest hour - when You had been bruised and battered beyond recognition, spat upon and mocked, gently accepting a punishment due not to You, but to me - still You are sinless, still you are blameless.

In this condition, Your just Father, Your holy God, placed upon Your Spirit the horror of these sins that were just committed against You, the sins of those tormenting You. Not only the sins of those tormentors, but of all Your tormentors throughout the ages - all those who revile Your Name, who seek to disprove You, who use Your Name for their own evil purposes. Jesus, You bore their hate of You.

You bore the sins of this nation - our numbness, our materialism, our selfishness and pride. We seek to fill our empty spaces with deeper and darker perversion.

You bore those who call You Lord with their mouths and call themselves lord with their hearts. Hypocrisy and defilement worse in Your eyes than any other.

And, Lord Jesus, heaped upon Your Spirit was my sin, too. Every time I willingly, intentionally even, chose my flesh over You. Every time I deny You in my heart, doubting Your truth. You bore the depths of the sin in this heart, the darkness of which only You and I know.

And, what poured forth from You as God poured into You the most vile and disgusting of us? When You were filled up with our sin, when Your Father, with Whom You had never known separation, turned His back on You? From Your holy and beautiful lips poured one thing.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Luke 23:34

God looked upon the broken body of His Only Son, saw His Spirit weighted with the sins of the world, and our gracious and just Father said that this sacrifice is sufficient. We are forgiven - completely, eternally, perfectly.

It is finished.

Praises and honor forever be to our Lord Jesus Christ!