Delafield Presbyterian Church

Phone: 262-646-2323

	Mail Us:	P.O. Box 180315
		Delafield, WI 53018

Back

Lenten Devotional

Friday, April 18, 2003

Good Friday

Scripture: Mark 14:26-15:41

At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?"
which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
-- Mark 15:34,37

Way back at the beginning of our journey, I suggested that you could look down our Lenten road and far off in the distance, see the shadow of a cross. Having traveled the road together through this season, we now come face to face with the cross.

The crucifixion is an awful story, a terrible story. It is the story of the execution of an innocent man, but not any innocent man, but a sinless man -- the Son of God. It is gruesome and grisly, filled with the physical pain of nails driven into flesh and the slow suffocation caused as a body sags while hanging on the cross. And it is a story of betrayal -- betrayal of Jesus by his own church, betrayal by his own friends.

Our listed scripture reading is a long one. But I encourage you to take the time to read it carefully today on this Good Friday. Read it and ponder the depth of God's love for you and for me, that this innocent one should suffer so that we may have new life.

The question of the hymn-prayer below is a real one for us as we read the story again today. "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Prayer:

                        Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
                        Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
                        Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
                        Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

                        Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
                        Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
                        Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
                        Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

                        Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
                        Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
                        Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
                        Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?

                        Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
                        Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
                        Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
                        Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
                                                                        -- Presbyterian Hymnal (1991), #102