Good Friday Reflection (Anchor House Update #4)

The final post that originated as an email sent to family and friends regarding Anchor House. It was written on April 6, Good Friday, 2007

Today we remember the greatest gift ever given to humanity–the death of our Lord. His enemies and detractors hoped they were getting rid of a thorn in their flesh once and for all. After all, "He saved others, but he can't save himself," they thought.

His closest friends had all but abandoned him, scattered like frightened sheep when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before. His mother stood helplessly by, watching her precious boy suffer agonies beyond description. As the weight of the world pressed down on him, he even felt abandoned by his Father. "My God, why have you forsaken me?" he pleads. Creation itself mourns the suffering and death of the Creator as the mid-afternoon sun gives way to the blackness of night and the thunder booms and the earth quakes as Jesus breathes his last.

Living 2000+ years later, and having the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it's easy to skip over the feelings of complete shock, dismay, and abandonment experienced by the disciples. To them, in that moment, it was not "Good Friday." Their hearts were broken. They were left reeling, fearing for their lives. The corpse of their best friend lying in a cold tomb.

If this is where the story ended, the death of Jesus would simply be the story of one more good man, misunderstood by the powers, who died a martyrs death for a good cause.

But the story doesn't end there. Early on the first day of the week, God again breaks into history, Jesus is given back his life, he appears first to the women who so faithfully cared for him, then later to his best friends who mistake him at first for a ghost until he eats some fish just to prove to them that he was flesh and blood. Love had conquered death. The power of sin was broken once and for all. The hope and assurance of life everlasting was given to all who would believe in Jesus, accepting the grace and forgiveness that he offers to each one of us.

As the prophet Isaiah, put it, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

Now looking back through the lens of this reality, we can call that Friday, Good Friday, knowing God was making everything right again between himself and humanity. The Mountain of the Skull, now becomes a Mountain of Mercy, where the crimson, perpetual tide cleanses our hearts and souls. (Imagery from the song "Beautiful Scandalous Night" by Derri Daugherty and Steve Hindalong.)

The hope that Jesus offers to us through his death and resurrection, is the hope that is the cornerstone of Anchor House. It is the hope of forgiveness instead of condemnation; the hope of new life instead of death; the hope of being reconciled to God instead of being rejected by him. It is the hope that brings us boldly before the Throne of Grace, with Jesus our Intercessor.

Tomorrow, Anchor House will meet for the first time at 2:30 p.m. It is my deepest desire that Jesus, and Jesus alone will be glorified as we meet; that he will work in us and through us to be beacons of that hope shining in the world around us.

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers. May God richly bless each of you.

Peace In Christ,