Good Friday

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” Psalm 22:1
Good Friday is a time when we can reflect on the magnitude of what Jesus did for us at the cross. He endured rejection from man, which He could take; He also endured rejection from the Father, which caused Him to cry out these timeless words. It’s impossible for us to imagine what He went through. We can study all the medical, physical aspects of death by crucifixion – the joints being dislocated, the nails through the wrists, the difficulty and pain in breathing, the agony of death by asphyxiation. But the spiritual pain and torment that Jesus endured was far greater. For a few hours, He experienced what it was like to be rejected and separated from the Father – a fate that, had He not gone to the cross, would have been ours for all eternity.
At the cross, Jesus became what we are, so that we might become like Him. At the cross, we change places. He dies for our sin that He did not commit; we receive His righteousness that we don’t deserve. The cross shows us just how seriously God takes sin – that the only way to rectify things was through the death of His only Son. Let us not underestimate it, nor take it for granted.