Good Friday, a day which saw great inhumanity placed on an innocent man. We all know that was not the end of the story. The Father sent His Son, who became man. He was sent to carry our punishment and pain and to give us a future and a hope. Jesus paid the ultimate price. He did not want us to endure separation from his Father for all of eternity. This is the greatest example of what love is. It is a sacrificial love and it costs the one giving it dearly.
I have always had a hard time understanding how anyone could possibly love me to that degree. It has been so hard for me to grasp. I believe each day we get a glimpse of His love and sometimes it is in situations we ourselves have been through that we can clearly see it. I heard a pastor counsel a mother who had just lost her child. It gave me another perspective of what His love looks like. It is what he said that gave me a different view of the death of my daughter. He shared with her that if she as the mother had died, her child would have to overcome the loss of losing her. This child would not have a mother to go to for comfort and support. This child would be separated from a mother’s love. So, in her present loss, she was carrying that burden of separation and grief for her child.
Life is full of losses in our lives. Every loss carries a huge heartbreak for us. We who have lost a child carry one of the hardest losses a mom can walk through. Can you see God has saved your child from one of the hardest heartbreaks a child could carry, the loss of their mom? I wonder if this child who was taken home before us is the very child God knew needed protection from our death. This gives us another glimmer of what God’s love looks like. We are carrying our cross with courage each and every day. We know that we also have saved our child from the burden of their cross. This is sacrificial love and it has cost us dearly. This is not the end of the story. We have our Holy Saturday where we move forward trusting and leaning on the Man on the cross. We are waiting for the day of glory, the day of resurrection, our Easter Sunday.
Lord, we thank You for the example of what sacrificial love looks like. It is with Your Good Friday sacrifice where we receive our Easter Sunday victory over death.
-- Michele
