Day 39- Blood and Water- Good Friday

Today is the day in the Christian year that believers pause to remember our Lord's death on the cross.  In our devotions we have been reading daily about what took place on the cross since Day 28.  Today's devotion is the final act on the cross, the piercing of Christ's side to verify his death, a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Tonight at 8:00PM at Our Saviour's we will have a dramatic tenebrae service where we will again follow the events of Christ's passion and death for us.  As the service progresses, the sanctuary gets darker and darker, ending in darkness as Jesus dies on the cross.  We are not, however, people without hope.  And so this service will end with a candle of hope, a foretaste of the resurrection to come.

For most people, life does go on without hardly a thought about Good Friday.  Sporting events are held, shopping malls attract Easter shoppers, the internet is surfed, most businesses are open as usual, life continues normally.  I'm guilty of complacency as well, not treating the day with the kind of respect and reverence it truly deserves.  But then, how do you measure such devotion?  How much is enough to do for God on this day?  How can we possibly repay God for Christ's sacrifice?  We cannot.  And perhaps that's the point.  On this day, Christ does for us what we cannot do.  He takes our sins and dies for them.  He makes possible a new relationship with God.  He sets us free from the restrictions of the law or any notion that we can to do things to earn God's favor.  We can never do enough.  But now we don't have to.  We simply need to believe in God's work on the cross and the saving grace it provides.  Throughout this most holy of days, in the midst of the daily activities of life, may we take time to remember what Jesus has done for us.