This was a very short sermon I gave for good friday on MStar.live 2021
Today is a very special day in Christian circles. I know easter is coming, and man are we excited to talk about that with you on sunday. But really, for me, today means so much, that I couldn’t just let it pass and not chat with you about it.
Right now, from 6-8 at our church, we do a somber open house- people come in, take communion together, and pray. It’s got a serious tone, as we gather to recall that on the friday night before easter, Jesus was with his disciples, and they took a meal together, and Jesus picked up the bread, and said “as often as you eat, do this in remembrance of me” But he’s not just talking about as we eat, think of him. He said, “this is my body, broken for you” pointing to the fact that LATER THAT NIGHT, he’d be taken, and go through the worst that mankind could throw at him, all to demonstrate his love for us.
He also picked up the wine, and said “this is my blood, poured out for you, and as often as you drink this, so it in remembrance of me”
Good Friday is such an odd name for such a dark day. This is the day when our God died. Broken, humiliated, and tortured, he proved emphatically that he’d do anything, endure anything, to rescue us. But it’s good because we recognize that Jesus died, not just because all men die, but he died FOR US. As christian we repeat things so often they sometimes risk losing their meaning, and maybe you’ve heard this phrase before, but today above all days, we soak in the truth. JESUS DIED FOR YOU. FOR ME. Not just for all of human kind. For you, specifically. It wasn’t a gift dumped in the ocean for you to find, but a check, made out to you specifically to cash. And lest we jump the story to easter too fast, we take this day, this very special day, to celebrate the darkest day in human history. The day where the promised savior of the world was killed, murdered. And lest I think the villains of this story are the people who put him physically on that cross, I must recall that MY SINS put him there. I put the nails in his hands, I put that cross on his shoulders to carry. Jesus needed to die, because I personally need rescued.
Something to think of as well. When I accepted Jesus, His death paid for my sin. But I need Jesus yesterday, today and tomorrow, just as much as I need him when he brought me to him in the first place. So this can be a day where I think about who I was without Jesus, how much his death saved me. But it can also be a day where I ponder and reflect and appreciate the fact that his death covers TODAY. My selfishness, my pride, my errant words or worst inner thoughts about myself and about others. I fail to be worthy of the forgivingness of God just as much today as ever, and just as much today as every day in my past, Jesus saw that from the cross. He looked at me of this moment, knowing I’d need covered for my sins. So his death isn’t just something from my past- it is my sustenance for today. My provision, my bread for this moment.
Easter is a special day, and we’ll talk sunday about how beautiful and amazing it is that Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. But for today, we mourn with beautiful hope that we have a god who would die for us. So I understand if you’re seeing this now on Facebook, YouTube, instagram or mstar.live- but with a year like this, when people might not be in person the way we have in the past- we understand. We get it. But whether in our homes, in this building, or wherever this day finds you- we as a people of God want to take this moment, Pause, pray, and reflect on how great a sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. Let us be a people who remember what God has done for us.
Taking communion together-
Pray