Maundy Thursday/Good Friday: No Greater Love...

Maundy Thursday/Good Friday has got to be one of the hardest times for any Christian or any humanitarian who believes in justice.

On the Sunday before Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Jesus had been hailed as the Messiah, the one who would deliver His people from the hand of the oppressor. People waved palm branches and strewed them in the streets. They even laid down some of their clothing in His path as He entered the Holy City for the Passover celebration. It was a day of great rejoicing. The disciples, like the crowds, were riding high. That joyous point is where I left my story on Sunday last. And even though I would like to leave my story there without the horror of the next few days, if I did there would not be the glory of Easter!

There was a huge crowd in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, estimated at over 250,000 people. Alarmed at Jesus’ triumphal entry and afraid of what it meant, some political leaders and spiritual rulers deemed Jesus a danger, a threat that needed to be stopped. So they set about plotting how to stop Him. And in the smoke-filled back rooms of the day and the hallowed halls of worship, oh what a web they wove! For when their power was threatened, they would use any means, twist any logic, to protect it. Power to them was (and still is) like a drug.

The events of this day are almost too painful for me to comprehend, and being a person who likes to dwell on those things that are lovely, I find myself hard pressed to think on what was done to Jesus on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But it’s an important part of the narrative and my faith, so I cautiously and prayerfully examine every detail.



Falsely accused, Jesus was forced to endure a miscarriage of justice, the mockery and haughtiness of his enemies, the betrayal of false friends, and even worse, the betrayal of close friends, all while being obedient to the Father with whom He was in constant communion. Jesus obeyed because He knew it was God’s will for Him to become the spotless sacrificial lamb. Then once and for all, that sacrifice would blot out the transgressions of mankind so that whosoever believes in Him could live in eternal fellowship with God. What joy! :-)

Jesus was aware of what lay ahead and prayed so hard in the Garden of Gethsemane that He hemorrhaged great drops of blood from His head, while the disciples who were with Him, whom He asked to watch and pray with Him, fell asleep. So Jesus was totally alone with the Father before what was to become the most arduous day of His life. Yet, being the ever dutiful son, Jesus prayed that the Father’s will would be done and more importantly, Jesus accepted the cup the Father passed to Him.



Basically, Jesus’ friends and disciples folded like a house of cards. I would imagine that they never believed it possible for Jesus to be arrested and killed. They were all good Jews, and they heard Him teach with authority both in the synagogues and among the multitudes, they had seen Him perform miracle after amazing miracle, even raising people from the dead, and they had heard His question to Peter about who He was and the answer that Jesus is the Messiah. They were familiar with King David and how he waged war against Israel’s enemies, triumphed, and set up a glorious earthly kingdom. And they felt Jesus’ day had come and theirs with Him. Despite what He told them about what would happen, it must have been hard to comprehend that Jesus would allow himself to be falsely accused, tried without defense, beaten, crucified and then die a shameful death on a Roman cross like a common criminal, or that God the Father would allow such to happen. They probably expected armies of angels to intervene on the Messiah’s behalf. I’m sure I would have. But the eyes of their understanding were not completely opened, and we have the advantage of hindsight and the knowledge of the resurrection.

And what did they do? Judas was to betray Jesus for the price of thirty pieces of silver (the price of a slave). Then Peter (who in a show of bravado and an attempt to protect Jesus had cut off the ear of the centurion who came to arrest Jesus) denied Jesus not once, but three times before the cock crowed to trumpet morning! Just as predicted. We don’t know precisely what John was doing while this was going on, but we do know John was at the foot of the cross with Mary in despair over what had happened to Jesus.



I don’t like to be uncomfortable. I hate confrontation. I want everyone to play nice and am still shocked to this day when they don’t. I want people to be happy. Hence, I have a hard time with the period between Palm Sunday and Easter. I have a hard time with it because I not only know what it cost Jesus Himself, but I also see what it cost the Father who had to step back and allow His adored Son, His only begotten Son, to be made a sin sacrifice for the whole world. I cannot imagine the agony God must have felt when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me???” That cry must still echo in the Father’s ears because it is seared straight through my soul. I cannot read that passage of scripture without tears. I cannot even begin to fathom what it will always mean to God the Father!

I have had love in my life. I have had prosperity. I have had education. Recognition. And many things. But the one thing about which I am most thankful is the gift of Jesus’ love for me. That He would willingly take on my foolish sins, my worst and most willful transgressions, and my iniquities and die a horrible death on the cross, so that I might have life and have it more abundantly, so that I might live in communion with God, and that when this life ends, I might live in eternal happiness with God in a place where there is no more pain or suffering, no more heartache when I am forced to bury another person I love. That, my friends, is a love that is literally too amazing to comprehend.



I am awed that Jesus sacrificed Himself for me so that I might be sanctified from my own sins toward others through His blood. I am awed because it is certainly nothing I deserved. This is about HIS sacrifice for me and for all those who would accept it for themselves. And it still leaves me standing in complete awe every time I read about it!

The world may call me foolish. I don’t care. I’ve been called worse. People may reject me. What is that in comparison to the fact that I have the love of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! I literally cannot comprehend the vastness of His love or the utter selflessness of His sacrifice, but I accept it as the free and loving gift it is. And I thank Him for it! :-)

Grace… it is amazing! And I look so forward to Easter, as I have every year since I was tiny, because I want to celebrate Him and the knowledge that He was resurrected, that He is with Our Heavenly Father, and that He will come again in Glory to take me HOME! In the mean time, I rejoice that the Father has sent the Holy Spirit into this world as our Comforter and Guide. That is cause for great celebration as well!

And speaking of celebrating the Lord, I have had the sad, but great, privilege of being with my sweet friend DiDi and her family as we wait for her time to be called home. And that makes the thought of what Jesus did on that cross even more special to me this Easter. Because the next time we see her after this life, she will be coming with the Lord to meet us. All because of what was done on Good Friday on a hill called Calvary on an old rugged cross...



And because of that and the promise it contains, I say, “Glory, Glory, Glory to the Lamb!”

Devotedly,

Mrs. Magpie (Sheila)