There’s something about Good Friday that feels different.
Even in a noisy world, this day has a quiet weight to it. It draws us inward. It makes us pause.
When we look at the cross of Jesus Christ, it’s not just a historical moment—we feel something deeply personal.
Why?
Because the cross speaks to parts of us we don’t always show:
The guilt we carry
The mistakes we wish we could undo
The silent pain we don’t explain to anyone
And yet, instead of condemnation, we see forgiveness.
Instead of power, we see surrender.
Instead of distance, we see love that chooses to come closer.
“Father, forgive them…”
Those words challenge something in us.
If forgiveness was possible in that moment…
what does that mean for our own lives?
Can we accept that kind of mercy for ourselves?
Can we extend it to others who have hurt us?
Can suffering have meaning, even when we don’t understand it?
Good Friday is uncomfortable… but maybe that’s why it’s powerful.
It doesn’t avoid pain—it transforms it.
I’ve been sitting with this personally and spent some time in prayer reflecting on the meaning of the cross and what it means for our everyday struggles.
If anyone wants to spend a quiet moment in that reflection, I’ll leave it here:
No pressure at all—I’d really value hearing your thoughts:
What does Good Friday mean to you personally?
Has your understanding of the cross changed over time?
I read John 18 and 19 this morning. To get the full story, I need to read all 4 gospels and piece them together. John doesn’t tell us about the flogging He took before the nails and he doesn’t mention that Peter wept after betraying Jesus. He says nothing about Gethsemane even though he was one of the three who were brought in closer by Jesus. It’s funny that John wouldn’t mention that. Even when reading all 4 accounts of Jesus’ death, I’m still left wondering.
Someone on this forum once asked who killed Jesus and the answer is me. I killed Jesus. I’m the one who sent Him to the cross. It was also you who killed Him. Everyone here had a part in His death. He willingly went to His death for my sake and I spent a good part of my life never thanking Him. There are others too. Multitudes of people that have never thanked Him or acknowledged Him and He died for them too. ”He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2
We have His step by step journey. We have His mother at the cross and we have John at the cross. We have some of what was said, but not all. We have the important part. The part we need to know, but we don’t have the emotions; the agony of those who believed and the hard ugliness of those who don’t. We can fill that in just by reading the facts and we can imagine what they must of felt. With what we’ve been given and how we are made, we can enter into His death and grieve along with them. My heart goes out to Mary, His mother.
Our grief doesn’t reach the depths of theirs because we know the ending. Even as we imagine the cost of what He did, we know that Sunday is coming. And so we don’t grieve the same and we won’t rejoice the same either. We know He will rise from the dead and it’s no surprise. But Mary, John, Peter and the rest don’t know that yet. There’s no hope in their grief like the hope we have.
When He is resurrected, their joy will be a mixture of confusion, delight and surpassing wonder. It will lift them up from the depths. A place they will never visit again. But that’s for Sunday and today is Friday. There’s much to think about in this solemn place of death.
My impression is that, so what that is is the Lord trying to speak to you but you may not be able to perceive His voice yet….but you do feel something. That was Him.
-He has set before us life and death, therefore choose Life! I choose Life!
-This is one that’s harder sometimes. It’s important to forgive so that that seed or root of bitterness is not in your heart. Guard your heart with all diligence. If you find that you can not forgive someone because of how bad their wrong deed was to you, then make it an act of your will to forgive them and speak it to the Lord out loud. Lord I make it an act of my will to forgive this person, I forgive them and Lord give me strength! I had to do this for a bad wrong done unto me. It took me almosttwo weeks of declaring my forgiveness for them as an act of my will…and one day I thought about it and(whoa) it’s gone! I could feel in my heart that forgiveness for them had replaced the bitterness. That may work for you?
It absolutely does, and I don’t understand it completely myself. I have learned that it is good to trust the Lord in all circumstances. I could tell you multiple testimonies where trusting (and Praising) the Lord during the daily crisis made me (accidently!) pass that test. That felt good and encouraged my faith. But specifically, what I know is that suffering is used by the Lord to teach us how to Love and being compassionate. The Lord told me one time that when I asked Him this, He said, Love can not be taught to another without suffering. So there you have it.
