The true meaning of Good Friday

This morning when I sat down for meditating, my mind was desperately thinking about few conversations that took place between me and my friend last evening about few personal matters. And then my brain started to float on about remembering that it's 'Good Friday'. Oh, right! If we had the schedule of attending the service at church I would've prettily remembered it, but it's all online now, so forgot, "sorry Lord", I said. 

I just started to rollback my memories to the usual Good Fridays I had every year before this one. I happened to attend the church service for hours together, fasting and listening to the standard '7 words on the cross' sermon, and then finish the service with 'hot cross' buns and porridge. 

Then I started to think about last Good Friday (19.4.2019), about a year ago, when my brother's board exam results were released. Because of that my family planned to attend the English service at 7 am that day and returned home around 10 am. Since I was free later I was looking at WhatsApp statuses of my contacts, out of which one song touched me much. That was 'Kalvari maamalai oram...' , a Tamil Christian devotional song (Meaning: Near the mount of Calvary...) that was sung by Bro. Shalom Shendre. It was posted by my college junior Sis. Aishwarya (Thanks Aishu!) I asked her for the link and I watched it. I was so amazed that I couldn't resist myself as those lyrics and the scenes from the movie 'Passion of the Christ'  broke my heart to the core.

Kalvari Maamalai oram 

I've watched the movie 'Passion of the Christ' very long back, but that day it created some awesome movement into my soul. Don't know why, maybe because of those lyrics along with the picture, I couldn't plot it exactly!! It's actually written and composed by Eva. JV Peter and it was given life again by Eva. Premji Ebenezer and Bro. Stephen Devassey, some well-known personalities if you usually listen to Indian Christian Devotionals. Kalvari Maamalai. However I was more pressured about my wedding and other personal stuffs and so I couldn't get back to that feel so deeply later after that day. 

 

After many more days, when I was traveling with my husband in his car I got to listen to this song from his playlist, quite surprised to know some details about the singer and many other stories from him and as he dropped me at home to proceed to his workplace, I went to the room, searched for the movie 'Passion of the Christ' and watched it after a long time. 

Today when I was recalling all these incidents of the past, that happened between these two Good Fridays, took a deep breath, in and out, and I started to imagine the position of Jesus Christ in the places where He was humiliated to the core, right from the time He spent at Gethsemane till His last breath on the Cross of Calvary. I was trying to picturize everything before my eyes, when He was heard by Caiaphas, beaten by the soldiers, pierced His flesh and skin, then was made to stand in front of Pontius Pilate for the judgement, inturn he washed his hands in front of the crowd and left Him in their hands again, and finally the march towards the Golgotha, carrying His cross and crucifixion. 

I was thinking about how His mindset would've been, because He, being the Son of God as Son of man, knew very well about the prophecies of the past, the plans of God, and was very sure that He had to lay down His life. But still He wished for that cup to be removed from Him, however that was Father's will for which He gave up on it. Imagine what all He would've thought about His disciples? His own disciples, whom He addressed as His friends in John 15, those who were with Him during the 'Last supper' were the ones who hid themselves when Jesus was arrested. Especially Judas Iscariot, kissed and betrayed Him. And there was one brave fellow among the disciple group to follow Jesus secretly to the place where He was taken, yes, that's Peter. But what did he do? He denied Jesus thrice before the rooster crowed the next morning. And we look at Luke 22:61 that the Lord looked into Peter's eyes. Eyes don't speak lies even when a person's lips do it. Imagine the group of people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem, shouting 'Hosanna to the Son of King David' with palm leaves!! They were the ones who shouted 'Crucify Him' in front of Pilate during His case hearing. Who knows! Only these few things are mentioned in the Scriptures, and there might be many more things that could've hurt Him internally, apart from the physical hurt He had. 

But He never bothered about them all, as His only goal was to fulfill His Father's desire on Earth. He died on the cross and was made to rise again by His Father's will just to make us live eternally in His Kingdom where He'll be sitting at the right hand of the Father. Just like what I mentioned above, He experienced not only the physical hurt but mentally He was hurt by everyone who were with Him the days before crucifixion. To be precise, it was not only them who hurted Him but it's also we who sin against God's word every single time, whether knowingly or unknowingly. It's for our salvation that He was crucified and then we also would come under the class of people who are called to be His disciples. So everytime we go against His will or against His word, we crucify Him, we pierce Him once again. 

So, whenever you feel burdened within yourselves, looking at the cross, or the picture of the cross, crucifixion of Jesus, think of the things in this way "It was for me, my sins, my transgressions, my shame, which has to be cleansed by the Blood shed on the Cross so that I can enter the altar to meet God the Father with all boldness, completely Holy, pure as white snow". 

Also there maybe times where people around you may betray you like Judas did, deny you like Peter did, or accuse you like the Jewish folks - remember, they're just a speck in front of what Jesus faced on Earth, yet He accepted it for the love He had on His Father, who inturn loved His handmade human beings. So it's good to bear anything for something that's happening in your lives for His Will to be fulfilled on Earth. Imagine what kind of humiliations Mary faced when Jesus was born, still she yielded to God's Will to be fulfilled through her. 

Let this Good Friday be a meaningful one for all of us, those at home because of lockdown, and some good souls out in their service to men. Let's understand the reason why Jesus agreed to give His life for the mankind, why He bore the sins of the world on Himself and was killed, and the reason for His Resurrection from the dead. 

Let me close this blog with the lyrics from 'kalvari maamalai oram'

"சிலுவை தன் தோள் அதிலே சிதறும் தன் வேர்வையிலே
சிறுமை அடைந்தவராய் நிந்தனை பல சகித்தார்
நிந்தனை நமக்காய் சகித்தார்"

(With the cross on His shoulders, spilling His sweats, with all humiliations, He was afflicted, it was all for us)