3. Friday means the beginning of change.
Good Friday provides the opportunity to proclaim, “Once you’ve been to the Cross, everything changes.” Stumbling blocks and foolishness turn into power and wisdom. The Cross changes everything. If something’s pursuing you, then perhaps the event that will change everything for you is the Cross. If nothing is changing, maybe you haven’t been to the Cross.
Easter is indeed about the empty tomb. But first, it’s about the Cross.
Why are we in such a hurry to rush Jesus up to heaven? Is it because the Cross doesn’t fit into our picture of how things ought to be? It didn’t fit into anyone’s picture back then, either. Friday is the road to Sunday.
It was the road for Jesus; it is the road for us. The third reflection on the cross is that nothing changes without the cross.
4. Jesus demonstrated faith over circumstances.
Can we be honest with our congregations? Can we say, “God promises never to forsake you,” but it doesn’t always feel that way, right?
Here are two of the phrases Jesus uttered on the Cross: “Why have you forsaken me?” and “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
How can those two go together? Even at his death, Jesus showed us how to trust the Father beyond the circumstances.
Jesus predicted his death and resurrection. It’s one thing to predict the future. It’s quite another to go to the Cross willingly.
At least three times, Jesus shared his destiny with the disciples. They didn’t understand. More challenging still is the fact that Jesus embraced this destiny by faith. He knew the Father’s promise of resurrection, but death still lay ahead of him.
And death was still death, even for Jesus. It was his trust in the Father’s promise that caused him to wager everything he had, his very life. As a man, Jesus modeled how to trust the Father. The final reflection on the cross is that it builds faith.
Ray Hollenbach is the author of 50 Forgotten Days, a devotional for the season after Easter.
This reflections on the cross originally appeared here, and are used by permission.
