It is ugly; it is the darkest day in history. And yet we call it Good Friday. Watching Mel Gibson’s movie was the closest I ever came to understanding the grisly suffering of the cross, but even the best Hollywood can put forward doesn’t do the Passion justice. Walking in the very places Jesus may have stepped on His way to His death stirs wonder and awe in me, but I still cannot come close to knowing what it really was like.


Jesus died from cruel and unusual punishment. He died for me. He took on my sins and paid what I could never pay. He spilled His blood to make me pure and acceptable in His sight. The cross is the pivotal moment in history. The sky darkened, the earth quaked, and Jesus declared with His final breath, “It is finished.”


Christ has conquered, and if we have made our way to the foot of the cross, we can be so thankful for that terrible Good Friday. Jesus came to this earth to seek and save the lost, the rebels, the sinners – the people like me. Praise be to God for Good Friday!