You Didn’t Kill Jesus: A Message for Good Friday

You didn’t kill Jesus.

You couldn’t have. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father.  Such a Being couldn’t possibly die, unless He chose to become something else. And He did. He voluntarily chose to become a man, with a body that could break and die, so He could be closer to you.

Jesus is not angry with you. He isn’t upset with you. That’s not what this day is about. Jesus came to earth because He wanted to, to make His dwelling among us, because He loves you. He knew from the beginning that that meant the Romans would kill Him in the most painful way they could devise, but He didn’t mind. You are that important.

In the Beginning, all the way back before anything came to be made, when the Word was With God, God the Father decided to create a wonderful gift for His Son, and that gift was all of us– you and me and everyone, the whole of the human race together and each of us individually. He decided to create all of us in His own image and likeness, each reflecting a different facet of an infinitely glorious God, and send His Son to dwell among us. That was always going to happen. We were created so that all of the human experience could be brought up into the life of the Holy Trinity.

The problem was sin. God did not intend sin. Sin entered into the world, in some mysterious way we can’t explain. And, again in a mysterious way I we can’t explain, all of creation was touched by sin. Because of sin there were thinks like murders and wars, famines and genocides, abuse and neglect and loneliness and trauma. God saw that, because of sin, you would become the victim of all kinds of terrible things. But God didn’t change the plan. Jesus decided it was still worth it to come and dwell with you. You are that special.

That is why Jesus was crucified.

It’s not something you did. It’s something Jesus accepted, because He loves you. He couldn’t stand the thought of you going through suffering and death on your own. So He came to suffer and die with you.

He came to suffer and die on behalf of all of us, and for each of us individually, because we are that important.

He came to earth as a working class child from a persecuted ethnic group who would wind up being born in a stable. He was taken to Egypt and then to Nazareth to save Him from a genocide. He grew up and became a carpenter. He healed and preached and spoke truth to power, knowing that eventually the powerful would lynch Him. You didn’t do any of that.

He descended into hell and broke it open, and came back out again carrying you with Him.

Now, everything you suffer in life is united to the Life of the Holy Trinity.

Today is Good Friday: not Guilt Friday. Not Shame Friday.

Today is the day we commemorate Jesus taking our death upon Himself. Today is holy and solemn and dreadful, but it isn’t shameful. You don’t have to feel bad. You can feel wonder and awe and even happiness, because God loves you that much.

Tomorrow is Holy Saturday, that strange and silent day before the gates of hell break open and death is reversed.

Tomorrow night, we’ll celebrate. The church will be brilliant with light. We’ll ring the bells and sing “Alleluia” and “Vidi Aquam” and go home late to eat Easter chocolate. But you can be happy today.

You didn’t kill Jesus.

Jesus is alive, preparing a place for you. But He’s also with you right now.

It’s a very good Friday indeed.