Why crucify him? What crime has he committed? (Pontius Pilate)
No matter where you go, no matter who you talk to, if people are being candid, truthful and not hiding, you will encounter a deep feeling of need…that something is
wrong and there is a desire for hope, even if it is only wishful thinking, for something better. People know that all is not well with them, that ‘things’ are not as they should be. There is something wrong and at least to some degree we admit that, that the
something wrong is not, for all our bluster and blow, only ‘out there’ but that it is in here, in ourselves.
The message of Christianity is that this problem is real because man is alienated from God because of our sin and rebellion against Him and His ways. The solution
can be found only in what God has done to rescue man from himself, sin and death.
For centuries now the intellectuals of the world have mocked Christianity and precisely for the notion that any god who was a real god would not suffer a crucifixion,
the examples of disdain are too many to give in this brief devotional. Even in the Koran we read that God put Jesus’ likeness on another man so that they ignorantly crucified a substitute in Jesus’ place while Jesus himself was taken up to heaven. “Allah would
not permit such a wonderful person as the prophet…to be so mistreated.”
But that is precisely the point. It is the repellent nature of the cross, its horror and disgust that leads us to the answer to Pilate’s question, “Why crucify
him, what crime has he committed?” Jesus was not a criminal. Jesus was not an insurrectionist. He was not a cultural scourge. Jesus was not being killed for His own sin, because He had none. He died for our sins. Instead of our being judged, He was judged.
Instead of accusations falling on us, they fell on Him. We were not condemned, He was condemned…He was sentenced to die…He took the guilt of an evildoer. He was, “numbered with the transgressors.” Jesus died the death of a guilty, broken, rebellious
criminal. Why? Because we are guilty, broken, rebellious criminals.
Mankind is right to give voice to the undeniable fact that something is wrong, dreadfully wrong, that is why Jesus was in the world to begin with, and it is why He
would set himself with a resolve that could not be deterred to Jerusalem…to Golgotha. The world had to be set right or mankind would be lost forever and only God could fix the depth of brokenness and evil that we have caused.
This Good Friday, let us see as never before, that the life and death of Jesus was for us. Let a woman see Him there in her place, for her sins. Let a man see Jesus,
bearing the curse and all that is wrong with the world, all that is wrong with himself. Let this truth find deep root in our hearts that Christ the Son of God went to that cross…willingly, because of us, for us. Christ’s death was not imposed
upon Him against His will. His judges and executors were not His masters nor was he dragged to Calvary helplessly.
Once we see clearly that Jesus chose the cross, He chose to be the sacrifice, He embraced the will of the Father as a lovingly and dutiful
Son, to do what the Lamb of God was called to do, “..take away the sins of the world.”
Once we see clearly the answer to Pilate’s question is: “None…he has committed no crime…but I have. I am the guilty…I am the offender…I am what is wrong with
the world, and He is there because of me…He is there, for me.”
I say, once we see that, the cross is stripped of its offense, for we see a love whose depths will take an eternity to plumb. We see mercy and compassion that leaves
us breathless. Good Friday brings us to the foot of the cross and on this day, in this hour we must say that it is dark…forbidding…and our hearts can almost feel the depth of grief, pain and sorrow. This is as it should be, as it must be. We must stand on
Good Friday in stupefied awe at the lengths our God would go to rescue us from utter and eternal destruction…even to rescue us from ourselves.
However, the cross with all of its ignominy, all of its horror, is being transformed into a sign of love, deliverance and hope. Tertullian, the 3rd century church
father, put it this way for himself and the Christians of his time, people who were still all too familiar with the cross as an instrument of execution. “At every forward step and movement, and every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes,
when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign of the cross.”
For us the cross is everything, for in it we learn of the love of God the Father for sinners, we learn of the willingness to demonstrate that love, from God the Son,
and we are brought into the reality of the new life that is ours through that cross, by God the Holy Spirit.
Today is a day of prayer, fasting and abstinence. As much as possible, Christians have kept the day free of work, social engagement and entertainment devoting themselves
to prayer, contemplation, confession and communion with others when possible. Use this day to cry out to our God for the eyes of the world to be opened, to acknowledge the exclusive power of the cross to transform all things and for our souls to be taken by
unmeasurable love.
Today we live in the shadow of darkness and Holy Saturday will take us deeper into the depth of this darkness but the dawn will break and our hope will soar on the
wings of the eagle.
Prayer: My Most Glorious and Suffering Lord, it is Your Hour. It is the Hour by which You conquered sin and death. It is the Hour for which You came into this
world, taking on flesh so as to offer Your precious life for the salvation of the world. May we be with You, dear Lord, in these moments of suffering and death. May we, like Your Mother, John and Mary Magdalene, stand at the foot of the Cross, gazing upon
the perfect Gift of Love. My suffering Lord, may we see in Your Cross the most perfect act ever known in this world. May we see Love in its most pure form. May our eyes and soul look beyond the blood and pain and see Your Divine Heart, pouring forth Mercy
upon us and upon the whole world. Today we kneel in silent adoration of You, our God. We sit quietly, beholding the great mystery of our faith. We behold God, beaten, bruised, mocked, tortured and killed. But in this act, we see all grace and mercy flowing
from Your wounded Heart. Bathe the world in Your Mercy, dear Lord. Cover us with Your grace and draw us to new life through Your death. We love You, dear Lord. We love You with all we have and all we are, receive our prayer Redeemer of the World! Amen.
Hymn: O Love How Deep, How Broad, How High
