revjohn
Well-Known Member
Shortly I am off to a sanctuary to lead a gathering of the faithful through our Good Friday service.
We will of course touch on all the bits and pieces that we are called upon to remember and consider.
Personally, I struggle again with the designation of this Friday as "Good." Friends on FB will have already seen earlier musings about the "Goodness" of this particular Friday.
Since I come at the day from a Christian perspective this will probably be a more relevant conversation for those who share a similar starting point.
I do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith that the death of Christ is to my benefit. Everyone else who needs to can argue how or why.
I do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith that Christ was pure and without sin and fully deserving of being considered "good". Every bit as "good" as God our Creator.
Not to give away the ending overly much I also do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith regarding Sunday which opens the door for Friday to be considered "Good."
I still wonder why we didn't choose to label the day "Tragic".
I mean, if I was a good person and somebody thought that it was better they die than me, that would be a noble action. It could also be described as stupid or futile since I am not likely to become better for somebody dying on my behalf because they thought I was somehow worth more than they.
I am not a "good" person. Nowhere near "good" as God, our Creator is "good." On that score, I testify that I fall very short of such a standard. If you won't believe much of what I testify about then at the very least believe that.
So I, wretch that I am, find myself confronted with Jesus, God in human flesh, a much better person than I will ever be going to the cross so that I might be spared the indignity and torment that the cross offers.
How, in the name of all that is holy, is the death of a good man for a bad one a "good" thing?
There is no accounting principle in existence that renders me value added because of the death of a "good" man. Which is the tragedy. The world needs more of him and could do with way less of me. Because, as I have pointed out, on my best days I fall well short of being good. Somedays it is too much of an effort to try being nice.
And yet, I didn't force Jesus to do this, I didn't trick him into doing it. The testimony I cling to tells me that Jesus chose this for the joy that was set before him and that mind-bogglingly I am part of that joy.
A grace I will praise but never comprehend in its entirety decided that I (and not I alone) should be spared a judgment also beyond my ability to comprehend and that this in some way is a "good" thing.
Humbling sure, good . . . I think that is a stretch.
Unless . . .
Unless that action, so long ago, has the power to touch me at my core and help me in some way to be something I am not.
Can I become less? Less of the ungood I see so plainly.
Might I become more? More of the good I so clearly see in Christ Jesus?
Not on my own certainly.
Maybe I am not alone though.
Maybe there is a lingering impulse of good, continuing to ripple outwards from the very heart of me where it first made contact.
And all those earlier Good Fridays maybe they continue to ripple and transform?
Maybe, hard as it is, I am letting go of what I no longer need and becoming something better than I ever was or could have hoped to be?
Clearly, I need more Fridays if that is the case.
At any rate, if that transformation can happen, and this one Friday helps it along in any way.
That alone would be good.
May the grace which holds the cross in place be enough to break into your lives this day and either begin or strengthen ripples of transformation.
We will of course touch on all the bits and pieces that we are called upon to remember and consider.
Personally, I struggle again with the designation of this Friday as "Good." Friends on FB will have already seen earlier musings about the "Goodness" of this particular Friday.
Since I come at the day from a Christian perspective this will probably be a more relevant conversation for those who share a similar starting point.
I do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith that the death of Christ is to my benefit. Everyone else who needs to can argue how or why.
I do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith that Christ was pure and without sin and fully deserving of being considered "good". Every bit as "good" as God our Creator.
Not to give away the ending overly much I also do not doubt the testimony of our common Christian faith regarding Sunday which opens the door for Friday to be considered "Good."
I still wonder why we didn't choose to label the day "Tragic".
I mean, if I was a good person and somebody thought that it was better they die than me, that would be a noble action. It could also be described as stupid or futile since I am not likely to become better for somebody dying on my behalf because they thought I was somehow worth more than they.
I am not a "good" person. Nowhere near "good" as God, our Creator is "good." On that score, I testify that I fall very short of such a standard. If you won't believe much of what I testify about then at the very least believe that.
So I, wretch that I am, find myself confronted with Jesus, God in human flesh, a much better person than I will ever be going to the cross so that I might be spared the indignity and torment that the cross offers.
How, in the name of all that is holy, is the death of a good man for a bad one a "good" thing?
There is no accounting principle in existence that renders me value added because of the death of a "good" man. Which is the tragedy. The world needs more of him and could do with way less of me. Because, as I have pointed out, on my best days I fall well short of being good. Somedays it is too much of an effort to try being nice.
And yet, I didn't force Jesus to do this, I didn't trick him into doing it. The testimony I cling to tells me that Jesus chose this for the joy that was set before him and that mind-bogglingly I am part of that joy.
A grace I will praise but never comprehend in its entirety decided that I (and not I alone) should be spared a judgment also beyond my ability to comprehend and that this in some way is a "good" thing.
Humbling sure, good . . . I think that is a stretch.
Unless . . .
Unless that action, so long ago, has the power to touch me at my core and help me in some way to be something I am not.
Can I become less? Less of the ungood I see so plainly.
Might I become more? More of the good I so clearly see in Christ Jesus?
Not on my own certainly.
Maybe I am not alone though.
Maybe there is a lingering impulse of good, continuing to ripple outwards from the very heart of me where it first made contact.
And all those earlier Good Fridays maybe they continue to ripple and transform?
Maybe, hard as it is, I am letting go of what I no longer need and becoming something better than I ever was or could have hoped to be?
Clearly, I need more Fridays if that is the case.
At any rate, if that transformation can happen, and this one Friday helps it along in any way.
That alone would be good.
May the grace which holds the cross in place be enough to break into your lives this day and either begin or strengthen ripples of transformation.
