By David ReayWednesday 27 May 2020LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. (The Message)
Success can sometimes look like failure. Victory can similarly look like defeat. So it was on that first Good Friday that Jesus died a criminal’s death at the hands of a corrupt imperial power and a misguided religious power. It seemed like the end of a noble fight, the final surrender of a brave martyr done in by a world gone mad.
Only it wasn’t. What looked like evidence of human folly happened also to be wisdom of God. What looked like the triumph of hate happened also to be all conquering love. Because this was no ordinary man being crucified. It was God in human form identifying with all other humans and taking on himself all that was wrong in them and in the world.
In doing so, he offered them freedom from guilt and sin and death. Love was revealing itself in the ugly context of public torture. Mercy was being offered even to those who were showing no mercy. What looked like the end was in fact a prelude to a new beginning.
Because when Jesus cried out it was finished, it was not a cry of miserable loss but an announcement that it was mission accomplished. He had done what he had come to do. The loss was gain; the defeat was victory; the death was life.
Blessings
David