Today we remember the Crucifixion of the Christ. While Palm Sunday and the Passover are marked with celebration, the atmosphere of Good Friday is much darker. Many churches tonight will hold Tenebrae services during which the sanctuary lights will slowly be extinguished. The paraments will be stripped or exchanged for simple black cloth.
It is today that we remember the death of our Passover Lamb. Exodus tells us that this Lamb was to be without blemish and that His bones were not to be broken. It is through the Lamb's blood that Death does not come to us. This Sacrifice is in celebration of God's deliverance and of salvation.
When he was hung on the Cross, Jesus quoted Psalm 22. As he began by saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", the events of the Psalm were carried out around him.
"My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth." - "I have thirst."
"A band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet."
"They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
The prophet Isaiah reminds us that, "You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed," (52:3). In the next chapter, we are told "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all," (53:5-7).
Though the sorrow of the Cross is in the death of the Christ, it also comes bringing the glory of salvation. The sorrow of the Cross is not long lived, for the tomb will be empty on Sunday morning. The salvation, however, is eternal.
Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts
06 April 2007
08 February 2007
Power Behind the Crucifixion
I can't help but wonder if the powerful images of the Crucifixion of Christ are lost on my generation. Even to modern believers, I think that the Passion isn't as well understood as it was in times past, even up to the 1800s (though I would suspect that the power started to trail off after the fall of the Roman Empire).
Keep this in mind: I am not saying that the Crucifixion is not important. I hold to the belief that Christ suffered, died, was buried, and resurrected as payment for the sins of Man. All I claim is that the power behind the images don't have as much of an effect on my generation (for the sake of argument, let's group anyone below the age of thirty in here).
Christ was humiliated, tortured, and hung on a cross to essentially drown in his own bodily fluids. One of the reasons that this doesn't have much impact on us today is that in what we consider the civilized world, that type of thing doesn't happen. In the US and other western nations, punishment, especially capital punishment, are no longer public events. It used to be that the entire town turned out for hangings, but this is seen as barbaric now (and for good reason). People cannot grasp the idea that Christ was mocked on his way to die. The most recent example of this was Saddam Hussein, and most people claim that he deserved it. In the times of public executions, and in places where this travesty still occurs, the humiliation and suffering of Jesus might have a more tramatic impact. But not anymore.
The second reason that people fail to grasp the power behind crucifixions is that it was torture. Western, civilized societies aren't supposed to do this. We get up in arms about water boarding and the abuses at Abu Grahib and Gitmo (again, for good reason). We as a civilization cannot bring ourselves to imagine the pain of being whipped, beaten, nailed to a tree, and left to die. Modern executions, as horrible as they are, are nothing compared to the ways of old. Lethal injection, electrocution. All seem horrible ways to go, but there are worse ways, and chief among them is crucifixion.
Last, but certainly not least, is our tolerance of violence. Even when executions were public, the idea behind it was not entertainment but enforcement. The message sent was, "Be a good citizen and this won't happen to you." Now violence is fun. First-person shooters, slasher movies, and internet videos have made violence something to be enjoyed and laughed at rather than feared. My neighbors spend most of their free time playing games like Counter Strike and Soldier of Fortune and watching videos of police shootings and plane crashes. Few things are outside of the realm of public pleasure.
While a few things still pop up to scar the minds of westerners (the beheadings of Americans in Iraq, murder of missionaries), most things are considered to be too unrelated to us for us to care. Cases of genocide (Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, and the Sudan) are ignored because the populace cannot relate to the victims. If that is the case, how are we expected to relate to the torture and murder of a Middle Eastern rabbi nearly two thousand years ago?
Rock on.
Keep this in mind: I am not saying that the Crucifixion is not important. I hold to the belief that Christ suffered, died, was buried, and resurrected as payment for the sins of Man. All I claim is that the power behind the images don't have as much of an effect on my generation (for the sake of argument, let's group anyone below the age of thirty in here).
Christ was humiliated, tortured, and hung on a cross to essentially drown in his own bodily fluids. One of the reasons that this doesn't have much impact on us today is that in what we consider the civilized world, that type of thing doesn't happen. In the US and other western nations, punishment, especially capital punishment, are no longer public events. It used to be that the entire town turned out for hangings, but this is seen as barbaric now (and for good reason). People cannot grasp the idea that Christ was mocked on his way to die. The most recent example of this was Saddam Hussein, and most people claim that he deserved it. In the times of public executions, and in places where this travesty still occurs, the humiliation and suffering of Jesus might have a more tramatic impact. But not anymore.
The second reason that people fail to grasp the power behind crucifixions is that it was torture. Western, civilized societies aren't supposed to do this. We get up in arms about water boarding and the abuses at Abu Grahib and Gitmo (again, for good reason). We as a civilization cannot bring ourselves to imagine the pain of being whipped, beaten, nailed to a tree, and left to die. Modern executions, as horrible as they are, are nothing compared to the ways of old. Lethal injection, electrocution. All seem horrible ways to go, but there are worse ways, and chief among them is crucifixion.
Last, but certainly not least, is our tolerance of violence. Even when executions were public, the idea behind it was not entertainment but enforcement. The message sent was, "Be a good citizen and this won't happen to you." Now violence is fun. First-person shooters, slasher movies, and internet videos have made violence something to be enjoyed and laughed at rather than feared. My neighbors spend most of their free time playing games like Counter Strike and Soldier of Fortune and watching videos of police shootings and plane crashes. Few things are outside of the realm of public pleasure.
While a few things still pop up to scar the minds of westerners (the beheadings of Americans in Iraq, murder of missionaries), most things are considered to be too unrelated to us for us to care. Cases of genocide (Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, and the Sudan) are ignored because the populace cannot relate to the victims. If that is the case, how are we expected to relate to the torture and murder of a Middle Eastern rabbi nearly two thousand years ago?
Rock on.
14 April 2006
Good Friday
Today is the day we remember Christ's death on the cross.
He was betrayed, given a trial, beaten, and crucified. He was mocked and jeered. And all for what? The new covenant.
During the first Passover, the final plague was coming. The first born in every household was to be slain. For this to pass over the Israelite houses, each family killed a lamb and smeered the blood on the door frame. Likewise, God killed his only Son and atoned us through his blood so that the wages of sin might pass over us.
Rock on.
He was betrayed, given a trial, beaten, and crucified. He was mocked and jeered. And all for what? The new covenant.
During the first Passover, the final plague was coming. The first born in every household was to be slain. For this to pass over the Israelite houses, each family killed a lamb and smeered the blood on the door frame. Likewise, God killed his only Son and atoned us through his blood so that the wages of sin might pass over us.
Rock on.
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