Greater Love Has No Man Than This

I will never forget the day. It was Good Friday and we lived in Appleton, WI. The kids were off school. I told them I really wanted them to understand the significance of this day, so told them we were going to read the four Gospel accounts of what happened on Good Friday. I remember Anton rolled his eyes. He wanted to be outside playing rather than sit and read the Word, but I made the kids have a seat so we could begin reading. We started in Matthew and got to the later verses of chapter 26, when Anton started to cry. I looked at him and said, "Do you really hate sitting here reading this?" To which he then replied, "No, Mommy, I just don't understand why they would do this to Jesus." He got it. My hopes in having the children understand what happened this day worked.

Good Friday is such a strange name for a day remembered as a day where the worst possible kind of death sentence is given to the King of Kings. Heralded as the Savior just a few days before, now He hung on a tree ... a humiliating, excruciating (where the word "crucifixion" comes from) death. And it wasn't just his death, but all that led up to it. Matt. 26:67-68 says, "Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, 'Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?'" Matthew 27:28-30 says, "They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head." Then he was flogged and crucified ... this innocent man.

When a physician in the book "The Case For Christ" was questioned by then journalist Lee Strobel about what motive a man would have to willing go through this kind of torture and death, he replied, "Well ... I suppose the answer can be summed up in one word  - and that would be love." Even Jesus admitted that was the reason when He told the disciples the night before His death in John 15:13 "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." And yet He wasn't doing this just for His friends. He died for all.

There is no greater gift that we can give you young couples than the understanding of what Jesus Christ did for you. And we're pretty sure you all grasp that. We want to be sure you understand the gravity of it so that you can pass that onto our grandchildren, to pass onto their grandchildren and so on with hopes they will share it with the world. There is no greater gift you can give a soul than the knowledge they are forgiven for their sins and can spend an eternity with the Father.

What makes this day so "good?" The Christ who died for us. The forgiveness promised us. The the eternity waiting for us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16. Amen. Amen.

Discussion: What does this day mean to you? Read together at least one account of Good Friday as found in Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23 or John 18-19 and discuss it.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for loving us. We glorify Your name and ask You to forgive our sins. Lord, we bear responsibility for His death, yet He paid the price. May we share this story with all who need to hear it. In the name of the Savior, Messiah, Redeemer and King, Jesus Christ, Amen.