| Romans 5:8 – “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” |
If you live long enough, you find those days that change the world.
Most are dramatic
I remember my father could tell me where he was when news of the Pearl Harbor bombing took place on December 7, 1941.
And we have taken a shortened date on the calendar and made it the cultural shorthand for a day everyone over 25 knows–9/11.
When we live through them, we understand how much life is changing.
But that’s not true about all days.
The Friday before Easter is called Good Friday. It is the day Christ died on the cross.
It was something they really could not decide on in the church past the 2nd century. We follow the Gregorian Calendar with its relation to moon phases. The Eastern Orthodox uses the Julian calendar which follows the sun, so they celebrate later.
But when you think of the day Christ died, we see it in retrospect, through the lenses of centuries of preaching.
What was it to the average inhabitant or visitor to Jerusalem on that day?
There was a group of agitators chanting.
But most, went about their business, making Passover preparations, arranging for sacrifices, and paying fees to the Jewish authorities.
For them, it was another day. The Romans had been crucifying people ever since they adopted the practice from the Babylonians.
So, what took place on a little piece of rock outside the city gates of Jerusalem drew less attention than we assume.
But the death of Jesus brings three different perspectives.
There is that of those Jerusalemites–someone died, and life goes on.
For us, one perspective is the death of Jesus was cruel, which it was.
But the third is that it did not end the life of Jesus of Nazareth but opened life to all mankind. The death was not Jesus’ end, just a divine transition from worn out religion to new life.
It was only in retrospect that people could see the truth.
On Pentecost, Peter had to drive the spike into their hearts–This Jesus is both Lord and Christ.
And it would be someone who tried to eradicate his name to frame it as it should be framed: “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7–8)
It was the day God showed his greatest love for us. So don’t let the day pass because it did change everything, more than any other day in history or eternity.
–Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
