Friday, March 29, 2013
Good Friday
Mark 15:29-30 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!"
WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED ... DID!
No doubt there were those who returned home from Jesus' crucifixion not only saddened but puzzled -- people who must have said to themselves, "This should not have happened." Hadn't Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead? Surely His powers were phenomenal. Couldn't He have prevented this terrible miscarriage of justice? Hadn't Jesus shown Himself to be the Son of God? Why would God let this happen to Him?
"Shoulda, coulda, woulda" is an expression people use to say that talking about what might have been doesn't change what actually happened one bit. When people say "I should have done this or that" or "I see now what I could have done" or "If only I had acted when action was needed", those are uniformly words of regret. Too late now.
But Jesus never had to look back on Calvary with any such words. No matter how it appeared at the time, Christ chose not to respond to the taunts of His enemies with either word or action. He could have stopped the entire proceedings and come down from the cross but He would not. In fact, for our sakes He refused to even diminish His suffering on the cross by a few degrees by drinking the myrrh-laced wine the soldiers offered Him when He was first brought to Golgotha. What looked like inaction on Jesus' part was actually the most important action ever taken by one Person on behalf of others.
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And as He Himself said, "I am the good shepherd ... and I lay down my life for the sheep. ... No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again" (John 10).
