Good Friday 10th April Message

Good Friday 10th April Message
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April 10, 2020
in Minister's Daily Message
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Dear Reader,
Today this phrase ‘ Social distancing’ will forever be etched in our minds and will now be part of our recorded world history.
For those who can remember, possibly one or two of you maybe, during the war there were wardens policing the streets at night making sure no lights were visible which could attract threatening bombers. Life and limb depended on everyone doing there bit.
We don’t have wardens policing the streets now, but we do have our regular cops and we can all help by making their jobs that bit easier by keeping our distance during this current ‘war’ we are all fighting.
Either venerated or ignored is Mary the mother of Jesus. She stood, probably forced, at a distance watching her boy suffer at the hands of the Romans. Mary along with two other Mary’s stood at a painful distance.
What mother could endure such agony? No mother should witness the death of her children. The physical and emotional bond between a mother and child is special and is somewhat different, I suggest, from that of father and child.
Women are amazing. Women often regarded as the gentler sex, possess a tremendous capacity to endure things we men just can’t. For example, I think they are emotionally stronger because they can show their feelings while we guys try to ‘tough it out’ often to the detriment of our mental well-being.
The women in the bible are often shoved to the sidelines. But! Who anointed Jesus in Bethany? A woman! Some ‘do gooders’ try to make us all the same (men and women) by attempting to ‘neutralise” our gender. They can’t.
Who was first to arrive at the tomb at the resurrection? A woman!, and If you read the gospels you will find that many women were always around when needed. It was the men who were doing all the denying, the doubting and the abandoning but there they were, the heroic women, at the cross watching history unfold at a distance.
On this Good Friday as Jesus offered himself on the cross for the sins of the world let us think too of what it meant for Jesus suffering not only the physical pain but the pain of separation from his mum, his friends and the ultimate separation in the words he cried, ‘My God, my God why have you abandoned me?’
All the separation that Jesus endured was to make possible our reconciliation with God and with one another.
Today I ask you to think/meditate on these things.
May God bless you!

Jim

JBoag@churchofscotland.org.uk

MATTHEW 27: 32-56

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the jews.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ In the same way, the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,lemasabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

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