“Good Friday.” Such a strange name for the day when the innocent Savior of humanity and God’s Son died horribly. Yet, for us, the day marks a pivotal event in history. A holy and unbelievable imbalanced exchange: His perfection and innocence for our sins and guilt.
And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.
Matthew 27:29-31
Lord, have mercy!
And He did. Have mercy. For us. When we were still in sin and rebellion.
We worship and “celebrate” this event and exchange with a form of a “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae means “darkness” and the service takes its name from the ceremony of extinguishing the worship candles in such a way that the Church is gradually cast into darkness, except for the light of a single candle. The focus of the Tenebrae is the consequence of sin and the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice. The worship ends in darkness and silence, symbolizing our Savior’s death upon the cross. The single candle symbolizes the hope of our Savior’s resurrection. At the completion of the Tenebrae service, the worshipers are asked to leave in silence, in order to maintain the spirit of the Good Friday commemoration of our Savior’s crucifixion.
Experience the depth of God’s love for you on Good Friday so that you can sour with the news of His resurrection on Easter Sunday!
You will be blessed.
