April 2nd, Good Friday. By Biblical chronology tradition, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, would have been hanging, nailed to a wooden cross for a full hour by now. The Gospel of Mark 15:25 tells us that “it was nine in the morning when they crucified him.” It would be six hours before he would breathe his last breath. I suspect that by the time he passed, most of the jeering crowd had gone on their way and only his closest family and a couple of disciples may have remained with him until the end, as well as the squad of soldiers ordered to carry out the crucifixion. None of us can even begin to imagine the pain and agony that Jesus must have suffered during those six hours. God’s mercy allowed him to die in that amount of time because it was not unusual for the crucified to hang there for days before death. But those victims weren’t actually nailed to the cross, but were tied. But the death of Jesus was especially cruel. 

I didn’t intend to write a sermon this morning with this but I think that we need to remind ourselves of the passion and pain of this day. Each of the Gospels condense the crucifixion into approximately 22 verses, —- and maybe that is really enough because I think it is impossible to portray the agony and pain that Jesus was going through. But we do need to not just “gloss over” those passages either. The pain was real. The sacrifice was real and we are part of the narrative, even now 2000 years later, every time we deny Christ by disobeying his word. Think about that today. 

Our Maundy Thursday service went very well although I was disappointed by the lack of attendance. We only had about 20-25 folks there. I’m hoping many more attended via their computer screen. It was a blustery evening and very chilly and being late evening time might have kept some from attending. Add to that — the farmers are starting to get out in the fields and we saw a few of them out in the fields either spraying or discing as we made our way to the church. It was still daylight when it started and the sun had not quite finished setting when we finished so they we’re still turning dirt when we left for home. But, the service went well. The music was nice and the two that did the Tenebrae reading did an excellent job. 

Julie is coming over this evening with the pups. Jim has to work a full eight hours tomorrow and will come over after that. They will go home after lunch on Sunday. 

I guess that is it for today. It’s cold again this morning, 31 degrees, but it should start warming up and and will be a beautiful Easter weekend. Have a blessed day.