Daily Devotional – 4/6/12 “Good Friday!”

Now, I know someone woke up asking what is good about this day but let me tell you. You woke up this morning, that’s a good thing. You opened your eyes and could actually see, that’s another good thing. You moved your arms and legs and they worked, another good thing. You could feel with your hands and feet and speak with your mouth which is yet another good thing. You didn’t have to wait for someone to open the door, you didn’t have anyone telling you when to do this and that and you didn’t have to eat the food that someone else chose because you were in your own home instead of being behind prison walls. You didn’t need help to the bathroom to handle your business and you didn’t have to worry about being poked and prodded by some doctors and nurses because you’re not in the hospital. And your family didn’t have to identify your body at the morgue or visit the funeral home to make last preparations for your home going celebration because you are yet alive, so yes this is a Good Friday. See, this time many, many years ago God’s only son was getting prepared for his execution. I can imagine Jesus still praying for folks as they prepared the cross, the heavy cross for him to bear. I can only imagine Jesus still forgiving folks even though they were preparing a crown of thorns for his heads and for their fists to hit every part of his body. I can even imagine Jesus not mumbling one word against those who found joy in the suffering he was about to endure, yet you got up with a reason to complain. Matthew 27:12 says, “But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.” Even with the crowd yelling for him to be crucified, Jesus said nothing; see he didn’t need to explain himself because he had done no wrong for the bible says in Matthew 27:18, “For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.” Yet, you scream the loudest when you know that you are guilty. When they hung him in between 2 thieves, mocked him for the promises he made, laughed at him for saving others instead of saving himself, he still never said a word. See, Jesus knew the promise that his Father had made him so he didn’t need to worry about what the folks did to him. Although they pierced his hands and feet with nails, they could never pierce his spirit. Although they speared him in his side, they couldn’t take away the power that God had entrusted him with, so Jesus had no reason to worry because he knew his Father was a man of his word.

So, why are you so quick to fall when trouble comes? Don’t you know that God is a man of his word? Yea, I know somebody woke up this morning without a job, but you’re still living and able to hit the streets to find one. I know that somebody woke up hungry because they didn’t eat on last night, but all you have to do is swallow your pride and ask for help. I even know that somebody is crying because they can’t buy their children clothes and Easter baskets for Sunday, but try teaching them the real reason we celebrate Easter. We’ve gotten so accustomed to Easter egg hunts, when bunnies have never laid an colored egg in their life. We spend more money on clothes and shoes for the kids that we forget about spending time telling them about the greatest sacrifice that was ever made. I know that someone is mad because they didn’t get this day off but just imagined what Jesus had to go through when he had to work on Good Friday. He was stripped down in front of a crowd of folks who wanted him to suffer because they couldn’t explain the power that he possessed. He was beaten because they found joy in inflicting pain on him. He was made to carry a cross, the same cross that he was going to be nailed too, while he was marched through crowds of people spitting on him because they chose not to believe. He was nailed to that cross and hung between 2 thieves, although he had never committed a crime. He was made fun of when he cried out to his Father before death swallowed him up and his spirit was released. He was wrapped in borrowed clothes and laid in a borrowed tomb, all because folks choose not to believe in him and the things he could do. So, why is this a good Friday? Because you have the choice to be who you want to be, go where you want to go and do what you want to do. You still have to wonder why this is a Good Friday, because you have to work when you have a job while there are millions without one. You got the nerve to complain about this Good Friday, when someone is sitting in a clinic with a huge needle in their vein receiving chemo, radiation or dialysis when all you have is a headache. You got the audacity to complain because your child doesn’t have a new dress while a parent in sitting in St. Jude wishing her child could smell the fresh outside without it compromising his immune system. Is this a Good Friday? Yes, because while you have a chance to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, someone is preparing to bury their son or daughter, mother or father, sister or brother. Is this a Good Friday? Yes ma’am, yes sir; because it could be Messy Monday, Trouble Tuesday, Weeping Wednesday or Temptation Thursday but instead you get Good Friday! Is this a Good Friday, yes it is! Why, because Jesus endured in order to ensure we’d be forgiven of our sins, if we simply asked? I’d take Good Friday every chance I get because it lets me know the ultimate price that God had to pay by sending his only Son to Hell in order to reach Heaven!