For all Fridays....

Today during the Good Friday sermon (We had service early in the morning here), my mind began to wander as it often does. Today during the sermon, I thought; “What would be, and is most important and essential to communicate to the people here on a Good Friday morning in the Dominican Republic. I thought about how many of them were probably thinking about what they were going to do after the service, and maybe they were thinking about going swimming or to the beach after the service. I started to think about how the service and life in the Dominican look so different from what I used to know. Then I started to think about what it was that Christ would have been thinking in the moment of his suffering. 

While all the rest of us were thinking of something else, what was he thinking? I don’t think he was held up on the cross thinking thoughts of pity towards his killers, nor in want of physical need, nor in torment of spiritual and emotional sorts, or even what he would do as soon as he got back to heaven. I think he was thinking of the final word more than anything. I think he was thinking of the point, the goal, and the end of it all. I think he was thinking of me and you by thinking of that final word he spoke upon the cross, and when he said it, he was saying it for me and for you. 

While the rest of us sit and think of things during the sermon, like the absence of a loved one, the death of another, the illness of a beloved, or simply the plans for the day, Christ cries “It is accomplished” over us. Why is this so significant? It is significant and important because when he said those words upon the cross, they were words for all time. It was a declaration and a war cry to say; this is what I came for and not only is the task completed, but those things that we sit and think about have been accomplished in Him. While we focus on ourselves, He was focusing on us and our need for him. He hung, and died on the cross, knowing he had to do it, and that he would say those words on the cross and that we would be reconciled to him. He set his eyes upon an end goal and while the words of “it is accomplished” must have settled on the ears of onlookers as a fine ending to a story, it became a declaration for all stories past, present and future. Our sins have been removed; it is accomplished. Our salvation has been won, it is accomplished. The scriptures were fulfilled, it is accomplished. The power once held over us by sin, death, and the devil have been defeated, it is accomplished. This Friday is especially “good” because we remember the victory gained and accomplished for us, and thanks be to God for this Jesus Christ who has done it and done all things for us, and done them well.  

Mark 7:36-37

36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone.(A) But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”