Good Friday

Jesus wasn't surprised. He was neither tricked nor mistaken. He was clear-eyed. He told people exactly what he was going to do, then he did it. He was going to suffer and die. And yet, one of the most striking themes of the gospel accounts is that everyone tried to stop him.

The Apostle Peter told him not to die.

Satan told him he didn't have to die.

Bystanders, religious leaders, and the two thieves told him to save himself.

To this day we look at the cross and debate endlessly of ways the Son of God could have (or should have!) loved and forgiven and freed humanity from sin and death without dying. In other words, we too try to save Jesus from the cross. But Jesus doesn't need saving.

He wasn't surprised.

He was neither tricked nor mistaken.

He was clear-eyed.

He told us exactly what he was going to do, and then he did it.

You see, I think the reason we try to save Jesus is because we don't realize how much we are in need of salvation. Fleming Rutledge put it best when she said, “From beginning to end, the Holy Scriptures testify that the predicament of fallen humanity is so serious, so grave, so irremediable from within, that nothing short of divine intervention can rectify it.”

Jesus doesn't need saving.

We do.

That's why he ignored every dissuading voice on his way to the cross ... and willingly submitted himself to joy set before him.