GOSPEL POWER I APRIL 15, 2022 

GOOD FRIDAY

Gospel: Jn 18:1–19:42  . . .

 25Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s  sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus  saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,  he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27Then he said to  the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple  took her into his own home. 28After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said  (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” 29A jar full of sour  wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a  branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30When Jesus had received  the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave  up his spirit. 31Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the  bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that  sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have  the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32Then  the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who  had been crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus and saw  that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one  of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and  water came out.   

In the Gospel of John, purposiveness runs through the  entire account of the passion and death of Jesus. The  events unfold successively, with a strong hint of being  directed toward the fulfillment of an overall plan. Circumstances and  events are not really what they look like at surface level but convey  a deeper interior meaning. Exteriorly, Jesus is being arrested; but  interiorly, he is handing himself over. Exteriorly, he is being tried  and condemned; but interiorly, his accusers and judges are the ones  under trial, and by rejecting Jesus, they bring condemnation upon  themselves. Exteriorly, Jesus is punished and displayed on the Roman  cross as a rebel; interiorly, he is exalted and enthroned as the faithful  and obedient Son of God. Exteriorly, he dies; but interiorly, he lays  down his life to take it up again. The cross of Jesus looks like total  defeat; but in reality, it is sweeping victory over all the forces that  oppose God. We need eyes-of-faith to glimpse the amazing divine  reversal in the Gospel text. 

Lord Jesus, the weakness you displayed on the cross is really power —  God’s unstoppable power to save. Amen. april saturday white 16 Holy Saturda