Devotional for Good Friday

Pewter crucifix

One of the bad characters who was hanging there began to insult him. ‘Aren’t you the Messiah?’ he said. ‘Rescue yourself – and us, too!’ But the other one told him off. ‘Don’t you fear God?’ he said. ‘You’re sharing the same fate that he is! ⁴¹ In our case it’s fair enough; we’re getting exactly what we asked for. But this fellow hasn’t done anything out of order. ^‘Jesus,’ he went on, ‘remember me when you finally become king.’ ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ replied Jesus, ‘you’ll be with me in paradise, this very day.

By the time of the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land. The sunlight vanished until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was ripped down the middle.    Then Jesus shouted out at the top of his voice, ‘Here’s my spirit, father! You can take care of it now!’ And with that he died.

— Luke 23:39-46 (New Testament for Everyone)

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“Good Friday is not about us trying to “get right with God.” It is about us entering the difference between God and humanity and just touching it for a moment. Touching the shimmering sadness of humanity’s insistence that we can be our own gods, that we can be pure and all-powerful.”

Nadia Bolz-Weber

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Luke in 40 Days: Luke 24:1-27