A very Good Friday, indeed

     

     Easter has come and gone. Here we are in this beautiful season where new life is happening all around us. The various flowers — crocuses, tulips and daffodils, having laid dormant all winter, are now pushing their heads through the soil, eager to show us their beauty. 

     To me, this is always a vivid picture of the meaning of Easter — Jesus' willingness to die on our behalf, then His resurrection, bringing new life to humanity. 

     I was poignantly reminded of this as I entered Passion Week. I was blessed to have an unexpected opportunity assisting in the program for a friendship group for challenged adults, at my church. 

     The song our trio presented was entitled, The Healer, the chorus reminding us, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; Surely He bore our sorrows, And by His stripes we are healed." (Taken from Psalm 53:5). 

     Then came Good Friday. I get a recurring feeling that I could just ignore that day and let my thoughts skip ahead to the uplifting news of that first, wonderful Easter Sunday. 

     But, I knew I needed to pause and reflect on the terrible suffering Jesus endured for me. 

     We read of His disgraceful treatment, "...his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness."  — Isaiah 52: 14b  

     Attending a Good Friday service, it was a serious time of reflection for me. Face-to-face with the reality, it was my sins that caused those nails to pierce His body. I, along with others, on our knees before the wooden cross, with hammer and nail, symbolically added a nail to His pain and suffering.  

     Then came Easter Sunday.  The joyful celebration I experienced at my church, once more amazed, as I realized anew Jesus' words, "...Because I live, you also will live."  John:14:19b  

     
     

     One detail in the Easter story causes me to wonder — why did Jesus choose to have the scars remain on His resurrected body?  

     Couldn't He have had any perfect body He wanted? 

     He knew there would be people like the disciple Thomas, who said,"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were— I will not believe it?" 

     To Jesus, no doubt, the scars are a permanent reminder of His days spent on earth, confined in a skeleton and human skin.  But, Wonder of Wonders! 

     Christ's resurrection is the guarantee of our own!  Now, living for the future, puts today in perspective.

— beulah