Friday, April 18

Forgiveness from the Cross

Dr. Robert Gorrell

Reading

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Mark 15:39 (NIV)

Reflection

Today is Good Friday. People often ask why the day Jesus died on the cross is called “Good Friday.” After all, dying on a cross doesn’t seem “good.”

Sometimes the way the church teaches about the cross adds to the confusion. Some churches teach that God is angry because of our sin, but Jesus is punished in our place. So when we think the cross is about us, the only view we can have of God is of God standing in heaven with folded arms—looking down at the cross, judging us, but punishing Jesus.

But the thing is: God isn’t standing above the cross. God is hanging from the cross.

Maybe the problem starts when we think we know who God is.

Because we want to punish those who hurt us, we think God does the same. Because we are unforgiving, we assume God is unforgiving too. It’s counterintuitive to imagine a God who would willingly choose to be poured out for us on the cross—because we’d never do a thing like that ourselves.

Yet in the end, we cannot be saved by a God who is simply a version of the worst parts of us.

On Sunday, Pastor Mark reminded us that the Kingdom of God is completely different from the kingdoms of this world. On the cross, we don’t see a legal transaction where Jesus pays our debt. We see God entering and redeeming the very worst parts of us. From the cross, the judgment is final—and that judgment is… forgiveness.

That’s why Mark tells the story the way he does. Mark’s people hated the Romans. And yet, the climactic moment of the crucifixion in Mark’s Gospel is when a Roman centurion stands at the foot of the cross, watches Jesus die, and proclaims: “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”

Talk about turning the kingdom upside down. In Mark’s stunning reversal, Rome itself proclaims Christ’s identity—but only at the foot of the cross.

Remember the very first sentence of Mark’s Gospel: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” Now those same words come from the lips of a Roman centurion. Christ’s final moments reveal God’s true identity: God is the one who pursues us into the darkest places of human brokenness—and loves us enough to bear our pain and heal our wounds.

And that’s why it’s called Good Friday.

Join us for Good Friday worship tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Prayer
Dear Christ, thank you for meeting me in the darkest places of my life. Today, take me to the foot of the cross. Amen.