Good Friday

I awoke this morning before daybreak. All was quiet. Then the first bird of the day began to sing. That night so long ago Jesus was still up as the day began to dawn, and as a cock crowed both He and Peter knew that another betrayal had occurred (Matthew 26: 69 - 75; Mark 14: 66 - 72; Luke 22: 54 - 62; John18: 25 - 27).

In his book He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart, Max Lucado compares the betrayals of Judas and Peter. He writes, "Peter and Judas, both deny their Lord. Peter seeks mercy. Judas seeks death. And God lets him. In every age of history, on every page of Scripture, the truth is revealed: God allows us to make our own choices. ... God gives eternal choices, and these choices have eternal consequences" (page 53).

Lucado says that one of God's greatest gifts is the gift of choice. He continues, "In so many areas of life we have no choice. Think about it. You didn't choose your gender. Your didn't choose your siblings. You didn't choose your race or place of birth. Sometimes our lack of choice angers us. 'It's not fair,' we say. ... But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next" (page 55, emphasis mine).

As dawn broke on Good Friday, Jesus already he had suffered much, with so much more to come. I thought of all the people in Jerusalem that day. There would have been many who had no idea what was going on. Crucifixion by the Romans was common, and another three were about to take place. No one understood what life-changing, world-changing, eternity-changing events were transpiring. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3: 18 NIV).