Today is Good Friday. The day we remember and mark the fact that in order that we might be reconciled to God, Jesus died on the cross, not just bearing excruciating physical pain but also the great pain of taking all of our sin upon himself. Here is Mark's account of Jesus' death:
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
The Gospel of Mark is my favorite. I love how Mark, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes great pains throughout his biography of Jesus to point to and emphasize the cross. It is almost as if, with every step he takes, Jesus plods slowly but deliberately toward the cross. And finally, in Chapter 15, Jesus hangs on the cross. Throughout Jesus' life, there had been much debate as to his identity, but even his disciples did not grasp fully during his lifetime who Jesus was. Sure, there were flashes of light, like when Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah. But those moments were usually fleeting, not to mention few and far between. But finally, once Jesus has died, it is a centurion--a man who participated in and oversaw Jesus' execution--who finally gets it right. At the foot of the cross, this soldier proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God.
And that is the only proper place to understand who Jesus was--at the foot of the cross. Had Jesus shown us only miraculous feats of power and majesty, we would certainly have been impressed. In fact, Jesus impressed many during his lifetime, people who eventually walked away when his teaching became too hard, and the demands of discipleship too difficult. But by humbling himself--acting very un-Godlike--we see that Jesus truly is God, because of how he died on the cross for your sin and for mine.
Today, on Good Friday, may you kneel before the cross and truly see--perhaps for the first time--that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior.
