Someone asked yesterday why they call the Friday of Holy Week, Good Friday.
For God it was a bad day but for all humnaity it was a good day as God poured his love out onto all humanity. That was and is good!
From God's perspective it was not a good day. Imagine that you were a father and had to watch your son be wrongfully accused, taunted without cause, humiliated for sport, ridiculed for mockery, mocked with a fake crown that was not the crown of a King. Cruelty abounded on that day. It was not a good day.
It started out with a betrayal. Had a mock trial. Jesus stood before Herod and opened not his mouth. Does anyone think that that was because Jesus had nothing to say, was afraid of Herod, or was defeated? No, Jesus was choosing to "accept the harshness of humanity" and to transform the abuse of the cross into the power of the cross to transform lives. Darkness gripped the land. As Light sharpened its laser love beam, God's love shone in the darkness.
In the darkest hour of abandonment, Jesus cried, "My God My God why have you forsaken me!". He was quoting Psalm 22. The reality in the psalm and in Jesus' experience was that it felt like God had abandoned him but it was not "the truth" it was true that it felt like that. As God watched the scene, he must have hated it, yet He did it out of love for the creation he made. It was a bad day for God. It was a good day for all humanity. Whenever we feel like God is not presented or when we feel abandoned we can be assured that God does not abandon us even if it feels that way. That is the good news of Good Friday: that God opened his heart wide so that ll could know and experience love.
It looked like a colossal failure. Jesus who many had thought would usher in a new era of peace and justice was hanging to die in between two common criminals. This was the end of a great run. But what looked like failure would become the frame of hope for everyone who feels a failure. God loves you not what you do good or bad. God simply and profoundly loves you.
The I am wants you do be who you are empowered and redeemed by God's love and grace.
About Me
- Don Paine
- I am a pastor and a clinical psychotherapist. My life's passion is defining healthiness from a human perspective and paralleling it to the holiness of God, divine perspective. Shifting perspectives creates a paradigm that is alongside of rather than over and against. The parakalein of God and the paradoxes of humanity are redefined. Humanity is all about winning and yet we are losing ground everywhere. Divinity is all about letting go of the desire to win and the fear of loss. The Divine embraces the world with loving care regardless of anything.
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