Today, we observe Good Friday, the one day of the year set aside to remember the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Although for most people that day started just like any other Friday, make no mistake: there was nothing ordinary about it. Citizens and visitors in Jerusalem reverently celebrated Passover, the annual festival honoring Israel’s release from 400 years of slavery. The night before, around candlelit tables filled with Passover foods, fathers and mothers retold the Exodus story to their children, recalling how YAHWEH had rescued Israel. They remembered how the blood of sacrificed lambs was painted on the doorframes with hyssop so that the angel of death would pass over each home, and how God had outmaneuvered Pharaoh to free His people from slavery.

Every year after that first Passover, Israel gathered to remember their freedom. So, in late March or early April, somewhere between A.D. 30 and A.D. 33, people again flooded Jerusalem and the surrounding area to observe Passover, with one clear difference. While Israel sacrificed lambs to remember God’s deliverance from Egypt, at this Passover, God sacrificed His own Lamb to atone for the sin of the world. 

Today, we meditate on God's great love for the world revealed through Jesus Christ’s supreme crucifixion. As Isaiah foretold: “Our sins did it to him, our sins ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment that made us whole. Through his bruises, we get healed.” (Isaiah 53:5, MSG) Through His death on the cross, Jesus purchased our redemption, peace, and freedom. What we could never do for ourselves, God did for us!

That Friday was a miserable day for those first followers of Jesus, but as they were soon to learn, Sunday was coming!