No Christian church in our community would argue the blessing that is Easter Sunday. The most holy Sunday of the year, Resurrection Sunday (Easter) signifies Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the devil for us. Yet before Jesus was resurrected, Jesus first had to die. Before we read and experience the joy of Easter Sunday, let us today walk the path of the upcoming Good Friday.

Good Friday represents the darkest day on our church calendar as Christians not only remember their Lord’s death, but the awesome magnitude of His suffering and what our forgiveness cost Him.

As God’s Word declares that the wages of sin is death, God’s unsurpassed love for us devised a sacrifice, a substitute, as Jesus on earth, true man and true God, would offer His sinless life as the perfect sacrifice and die in our place. And God the Father, pleased to accept His Son Jesus’ offering as a payment for our sins, out of His grace imputes (assigns) to us this righteousness of Jesus, so that joined to Jesus, we are seen as innocent, sins forgiven, made worthy to have the promise of eternal life in His name; all because God allowed His Son to die in our place.

To accomplish this, Jesus endured unimaginable agony. Crucifixion represents excruciating pain on many levels. The beating Jesus endured along with wearing a crown of thorns began the blood loss that would continue on the cross, setting the stage for circulatory shock. Nails driven through His hands or wrists and feet rupture nerves that produce burning pain and paralysis travelling throughout the nervous system. Hanging as such, with outstretched arms, the weight of one’s body sagging would fix the intercostal muscles in an inhalation state, meaning Jesus could draw a breath, but could not exhale. Loss of oxygen, blood and extreme pain next produce arrhythmia as the human life of Jesus slowly ebbs away.

Yet Jesus’ pain did not end at the physical. Jesus died with the weight of our sins on His shoulders, all the world’s sins. Every devious thought, every vile act, every bit of hatred, every dark thought and emotion, the blame of it all put onto Jesus’ shoulders. And in the moments before His death on the cross, forsaken by God His Father, God turned His back on His only Son. Jesus was truly alone to bear the cost of sin and die under the Law.

Most Christians have seen the image of our crucified Lord, yet few stop to understand the event of the cross in all its agony. Yet Jesus endured it willingly, as it was the will of God that His Son would die in our place. Jesus found our life, our forgiveness, the eternity of our souls of greater importance than His own life and well-being. Jesus died with each of our names on His lips; His sacrifice was that personal.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16) can also be stated “For God so loved you, and me!” Good Friday offers a moment to reconnect with the sacrifice Jesus made so we could have life in His name. We invite all, before we celebrate Easter joy, to remember the cost and give thanks to Jesus for standing in our place.

To learn more about the whole Lenten and Easter experience, visit our churches: St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fredonia (672-6731), Immanuel Lutheran in Gowanda (532-4342), and Trinity Lutheran in Silver Creek (934-2002).

Pastor William Novack,

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Fredonia