Good Friday

Luke 23:  44-49 -- SH

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Three realities:  darkness at noon, a torn curtain, a dead body.

Three types of observers:  a centurion, the breast-beaters, the Galilean women.  

The combination of all six are overwhelmed with the power of this moment.

What kind of a God would have us know Him in the deepest possible way by having us gaze at an emaciated, bloodied body spread-eagled on rough-hewn beams?  What kind of a God would do this?

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride.