“On the one hand Death is the triumph of Satan, the punishment of the Fall, and the last enemy. Christ shed tears at the grave of Lazarus and sweated blood in Gethsemane: the Life of Lives that was in Him detested this penal obscenity not less than we do, but more.
On the other hand, only he who loses his life will save it. We are baptized into the death of Christ, and it is the remedy for the Fall. Death is, in fact, what some modern people call “ambivalent.” It is Satan’s great weapon and also God’s great weapon: it is holy and unholy; our supreme disgrace and our only hope; the thing Christ came to conquer and the means by which He conquered.”
~C.S. Lewis, Miracles
Bury a child and suddenly the death of Christ becomes oh, so personal. The image of Mary at the foot of the cross is too hard to bear.
I trusted Jesus at an early age and I have lived my life beneath the shadow of the wings of the Almighty God.
But I never-not really-grasped the horror of the crucifixion until I watched as my own son’s body was lowered in the ground.
Death. is. awful.
We should hate it-we should long for the day when its black arms no longer claim victims. It reminds us that this world is not what it was created to be.
But one death is also beautiful.
Jesus.
Yeshua-“The LORD saves”.
The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Jesus’ willing obedience to suffer in my place made Him the one and only perfect sacrifice, sufficient for eternity to make relationship possible with His Holy Father. I can come boldly before the heavenly throne, because I come by His blood.
Good Friday–“good” because now we know that Jesus didn’t stay dead. Good because we know that through His death, burial and resurrection, those who trust in Him have everlasting life. Good because Christ’s death conquered the power of death.
Don’t rush past this remembrance of the price paid for our rebellion.
Don’t tick off the hours and neglect to embrace the cost of Christ’s compassion.
Don’t fail to linger at the foot of the cross, looking up into the eyes of Love.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psalm 85:10 KJV
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