The magnitude of Good Friday

Here’s a sentence you may have never heard before: I love the holiday of Good Friday.  I know it’s still not for a few days, but it’s a very important holiday.  Good Friday is set apart as the day commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  “That’s morbid, Kevin,” you say.  “That’s a violent and bloody event.  Why would you love such a thing?”  Well, there’s more to this event then violence and bloodshed.  Good Friday is the day to celebrate the fact that, as the old hymn puts it, “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”

I always wonder who the Lord will direct to read this content.  If you came upon these words, it's not an accident; God is at work.  It hit me that someone may have this outlook: you’re aware of your sin, but you’ve tried to alleviate your guilt with good works.  You think if you pile enough good works on the scales, it will outweigh your sin and you will therefore be acceptable to God, but that’s not what the Bible teaches.  

A few years ago, I had to get a root canal.  I could have tried all I wanted, but there’s no way I could have delivered myself from the problem of that bad tooth.  I needed someone to do for me what I couldn’t do for myself.  I needed to trust in the dentist's expertise to save me.  In the same way, Jesus already did all the work that was necessary when He shed His blood for you.  You can’t save yourself from your sin anymore than you can save yourself from a bad tooth.  You must put your faith, trust, and confidence in Him alone to save you.  A right relationship with God is not achieved through working hard; you simply need to “believe” in Him as the Bible repeatedly puts it.

Back in July, my world was suddenly turned upside down when my father unexpectedly passed away.  As a result of this, I have been thinking a lot about Heaven.  That’s not to suggest that I never thought about Heaven before, but I like how Nicol Sponberg put it in an article of Our Daily Bread.  She stated that before she experienced the pain of unexpectedly losing her child to SIDS, she never had to, as she puts it, “sit on that truth [of Heaven].  I never had to put stock on it until a piece of us was there.”  That’s the best way I can think of to describe it for me as well.  

It’s comforting to know that I am on my way to Heaven.  One day I will have a glorious reunion with my dad.  But, just to clarify, it’s not because I’m a fantastic person.  No, believe me, if it depended on my exemplary conduct to get into Heaven, I would be utterly sunk.  Kevin Bauer is fickle, selfish, and sinful.  Why am I confident of Heaven, then?  Because of Good Friday.  Jesus paid the penalty of my sin (and the sin of the entire world) when He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary.

Let me conclude with this.  In the beginning scenes of the wonderful movie “Iron-Man”, the brilliant weapon designer Tony Stark is taken captive by terrorists.  Stark soon discovers that he isn’t alone.  Another inmate by the name of Yinsen is there with him.  Yinsen and Stark form a friendship as they both try to escape from the nightmare they find themselves in.  To make a long story short, Yinsen ultimately sacrifices himself for Tony.  In an emotional farewell scene, Tony initially tries to convince Yinsen to get up and to keep moving.  But Yinsen tells him, “This was always the plan, Stark…My family is dead.  I’m going to see them now.  It’s okay, I want this.”  Stark smiles and says, “Thank you for saving me.”  In the end, Stark does escape and goes on to live the life of a superhero.  But, as I see it, Yinsen was the hero.  In a very real sense, he died for Tony Stark.  That’s what Jesus did for us.  That’s what Good Friday is all about.

Kevin