DAY 29, MARCH 29, 2024, THANK GOD, IT’S GOOD FRIDAY!
Good Morning, Everyone,
I contemplated how it must have been for Jesus when he knew his time was up. I don’t believe he said, “Father, get me out of here as soon as you can. According to the Gospel written by Matthew, in the garden of Gethsemane, he pleaded with God as he asked Him if there was any other way to do what he had to do besides going on the cross.
He knew the disciples weren’t ready for him to leave the earth. They were still looking for him to gather an army to defeat the Romans. However, when I look at Jesus’s prophetic words to them, I see they had no clue that that night would be the night that destroyed their dreams of overcoming the Roman Empire and would throw them into a state of perplexity.
Jesus knew this would happen, and like the loving Lord that He is, He asked God for more time, which was denied. I look at Jesus’s prophetic words, “One of you will betray me,” or as he told Peter, “Before rooster crows, you will have disowned me three times.” Peter’s vehement declaration was that he was willing to die for him.
I am astonished at how many times I unknowingly or knowingly disowned Jesus, the power of what He did on the cross, and the power of His resurrection. And by the way, all the disciples agreed, like Peter, that they would die for Jesus too, except one, ––Judas, who had gone off to complete his task to betray him. None of them were aware of what would happen.
And so was it with my own life in the beginning. If you had asked me some years ago, I would have said that a walk of faith is like a sprint. After you have won three or four of them, you could retire and live off of what you have accomplished.
But the faith walk is different. It is a complicated process: walk, run, stumble, run, stumble, walk, filled with your purpose.
You start out walking. The day is sunny and bright, only to come upon dark clouds that douse you in the rain. There is no shelter to hide in, so you keep walking and notice ahead the sun is shining again, and you start running only to realize the more that you run toward the end, the farther away it is, and because you’re running, you don’t take a look at the path, and you stumble and fall. You lay there wondering what to do. You’re perplexed.
However, like the disciples, we have a loving Lord who looks after us. He picks us up. And like with Peter and the gang, He showed up right on time at the sea of Galilee. He fed them, reinstated Peter, and showed them what to do next.
This is why I love Good Friday. Jesus paid my debt entirely, and now I walk out my purpose daily, knowing that I am cleansed, healed, justified, redeemed, and sanctified by the lamb’s blood, which was Jesus going to the cross. He was the sacrificial lamb, and on the third day, He rose.
He would have been limited in time and space if He had not gone to the cross. Now, He’s everywhere.
Thank God! It’s Good Friday.
Have a lovely holy day.
Shalom shalom,
Pat Garcia