Good Friday Thoughts



This is Passion Week for all Christians. It is a week of introspection and correction. We remember the death of Jesus Christ. He was the most betrayed the most isolated person to whom even the Roman justice showed injustice in trail and death. I said ‘even the Roman justice showed injustice’ because the Romans though very cruel had strict laws of justice and punishment at that time. But he was tried in night, denied food, beaten and permitted to be crucified though the law found him not guilty. The Governor washed his hands and threw the righteous man to the hands of the people. That was not justice according to the Roman law.

Still His death was inevitable. His death should happen in such a way that His last drops of blood should shed down on this earth for the remission of man’s sins. He was the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus was God’s the atonement for man’s sins.

The Old Testament part of the Bible tells the futile attempts of man for the remission of his sins. Rites and rituals of the Old Testament period, though they were ordained by God, could not wash away their sins. No genealogies could save them from sin and punishment. They lived in perpetual contempt. They had to perform sacrifice after sacrifice. Old Testament people lived in fear of curse, punishment and eternal death. It was a period in which God proved their inability to remit sins.

There came Jesus, the Son of God. He was the predestined as the atonement of God. He preached salvation for all human beings. He healed the sick and gave back life to the dead. He surrendered to death and shed His blood for the remission of man’s sins.

Let me note down some Good Friday thoughts.

1.    Jesus was the only person born to die. His life’s purpose was to die for the remission of man’s sins. We are born to live in this world. We are trying to live as long as possible. Jesus came to die and shed His blood. No death is possible without birth. Hence he was born as a man.

2.    Jesus came to heal and to give life. Jesus did not preach a life of disease and sin. He admitted the presence of sin and disease, but He did not accept them. He taught to resist, conquer and live happily.

3.    Jesus was a doctor for the sick. He was comfortable with sinners. He gladly shared His dinner with cruel tax collectors, prostitutes, destitute, lepers, outcast and the downtrodden in the society. He was constantly in search of physically and spiritually sick people. Healing the spiritually, physically and materially sick people was a part of His mission in the earth.

4.    He lived and died for the whole humanity. He spoke to the whole humanity. He lived as a role model to the Jews, the white, the brown, the yellow and the black. He never called any with these names.

5.    His death was not a defeat. None could defeat Him. It was the fulfillment of His life’s purpose. He gave Himself to death. His death was a victory. It was a way of triumph. He prohibited the Jewish women from lamenting for Him. For His walk to the place of crucifixion was a royal parade of a victorious military general.

6.    He died not for Jews, not for any special sects of people. He died for the whole humanity. He bore the sins of all human beings born in this earth. There is no other leader who claims such a wider magnitude for his life and death. No other leader in this world opened a way of salvation for the whole human kind. Only Jesus claims to open an ever living way to God and salvation.

7.    He declared freedom to all. In Him there is no separation between Jews and gentile, master and slave and man and women. It is freedom from sin and bondage. He set man free.

8.    He did not establish a new religion. No religion of the time supported Him. He sought the protection of no religious or philosophical school. He was a role model to live. He showed a way to live. He lived successfully without sin. Till today, none need the endorsement of any religious sect to believe and follow Jesus.

9.    His last words on the cross was, “It is finished.” It was the successful completion of the mission. It is a victorious cry. It was an unexpected shout of joy and victory for His enemies. He proved that success is not always living to the standard of man; it is fulfilling the life’s purpose. He left nothing undone. He completed the purpose, gave up His life and left this world.

What a life story. What a successful life. Jesus has no peer in this world. That makes this Good Friday a wonderful time.
So I wish you, a ‘Happy Good Friday’.

Professor Jacob Abraham

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