Good Friday Hills.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land^* until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed;^* and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:44-46, New International Version

 To the crowds elbowing their way
And to those trudging past
Jesus, and the sign above His head,
must have looked like just another notice
Stick-pinned to the bulletin board at the local Starbucks.

He had spoken of love;
He had spoken of peace;
He had moved many with the words and deeds
Of a gentle grace.

The Kingdom of God came bursting through
The rending Temple’s fabric
As Jesus’ voice echoed against the stone walls,
‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’

As you suffered—they watched.
And then slowly, one by one,
They turned and walked away—
And left you cold and still
And very, very dead upon your cross.

+ Think on those two hills today—Golgotha and Zion, Cross and Temple—and consider where
God had chosen to be for you that day.

+ We are tempted to move too quickly to Easter morning.  Remain here for now, at the Cross,
with your Savior and the women and likely John.  He is here for you.  How much he loves you!

We Pray:  Lord Jesus Christ, as you led others in your most mysterious way, on that most
mysterious of days—Come and lead us, too, Lord.  Bring us to the cross, put us in
that crowd; let us see what you lost—and what you gained—what we gained.  Show
us, Lord.  And keep on showing us, so that we may show others.  Amen.

Text and picture, copyright Don Schatz