SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Family Policy Alliance of New Mexico
| Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” -Mathew 26:26-30 |
| Dear Friends: |
| Ordinarily, we do not refer to the day someone is unjustly convicted, severely tortured, and brutally murdered as a “good” day; but that is exactly what we, as Christians, do each and every year on Good Friday. |
 I have often considered the expression “Good Friday” to be somewhat disingenuous—a mere phrase we use to avoid the realities of that dark and somber day, including the role our sin played in its dramatic conclusion. I have even wondered if “Bad Friday” would be a better expression so that we might be stirred to acknowledge the weight of our sin and the price our Lord, Jesus Christ, had to pay in order to secure our verdict of innocence.
That was until I came across the following sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon that redirected my focus and, in short, reminded me that Good Friday is a festival, not a funeral—a day when our sins, past and present, were absorbed by the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. |
| I hope this sermon excerpt blesses you, as it blessed me, during this Good Friday and Easter Sunday. |
| He is risen! He is risen, indeed! |
