Read John 18: 1 – 19:42 or Matthew 26:36 – 27:55 or Mark 14 – 15 or Luke 22:39 – 23:56

Who would have believed that we had wandered so far away from love, from peace, from faith, from hope, and from everything that is beautiful and true; so far that only the death of God could bring us back. But God is love, and the response of evil to kindness, to truth and to peace is always the condemnation and the shameful crucifixion of Love.

Someone asked me, “Why did God send His son to die such a horrible death? Is God a sadist that needed a gruesome death to entertain Himself when He could have redeemed us another way?”. God did not organize and orchestrate the gruesome crucifixion of His Son. God did not send His son to die. That was all humanity’s doing. God sent His son to teach us how to live and how to love. The crucifixion is humanity’s response to divine love. Yet, Love cannot be held captive in our graveyards and prison cells; Love can not be held by the jaws of hell and death. Love, yes crucified, cannot die. 

During this day, everything evil in our various societies and families and in our lives will convulse at the presence of pure Love. Everything beautiful and true will be set free from the prison cells and the graveyards of our hearts. It is finished. The reign of evil in every human heart is finished. The addiction and shame and sin that steals our self confidence and faith is finished. The enslavement of our hearts by fear, by unforgiveable hurts, and by sadness is finished. Our redemption is at hand.

Today, look at a crucifix and see how much God loves you. The Lord pays the ultimate price for us. And yes, It will be a dark night, a very dark night; but it will also be a Holy night that will give birth to a glorious morning that will never end.

My dear friends, let us enter this night with the Lord today by reading any of the Passion narratives from any of the gospels or by watching the Passion of the Christ in a Friday that we call good. It is finished! It is finished! It is finished!