Judi Lake

The Greatest Act of Love in History: Good Friday



Posted: Friday, April 10, 2009

by
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In His sinless and perfect human body prepared especially as a perfect blood sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus suffered terribly in body, soul, and spirit during the long night of His trial. That suffering began with the agony in the garden of Gethsemane and in all the humiliating events of His trial and cruel torture prior to His morning journey to Golgotha.

The worst was yet to come.

Death by crucifixion is an especially painful and terrible death. It was common in Roman times for crucified men in good health to hang dying on a cross sometimes for days, yet Scripture records that Jesus died within six hours. Even if He only suffered normal human pain in this ordeal it would have been incredibly severe.

All this pain, however, was but the prelude to His real suffering, which involved being cut off from the Father's love and presence and consigned to carry our sins out of the universe, to hell as it were, like the scapegoat sacrifice of Israel of which He, Christ, is the antitype.

The Scripture records the seven last words Jesus spoke while on the cross. It was during this time that the sins of all mankind were laid upon Him as the Father turned His face away from His beloved Son.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus

1. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

2. "Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)

3. "Woman, behold thy son...Behold thy mother." (John 19:26-27)

4. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)

5. "I thirst." (John 19:28)

6. "It is consummated." (John 19:30)

7. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46)

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

As Jesus spoke these words, h e looked down from the cross at the people who had scourged h im, beaten h im, spat upon h im, and shouted for h im to die. But Jesus knew that his Father's love included them, too. To the Father, we are all His children, created in the image of God. Did they know that Jesus on the cross was the s on of God?

Dear Lord Jesus, may we graciously forgive those who have insulted us. May we reach out to all who hate us, just as you did on the cross, when you spoke these words "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing."

"Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."

Here is the repentant thief, handing on the cross next to Jesus. He could have said nothing. He could have had the same thoughts that prevailed in the crowds milling about at Golgotha. But the thief knew he had sinned, and he had faith. He asked Jesus to forgive him, thusly: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Lk. 23:42)

May we have the presence of mind, when we breathe our last, to ask Jesus to forgive us, and to take us into His Kingdom.

"Woman, behold thy son ... Behold thy mother."

Jesus, realizing that the end is near, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, and St. John, standing at the foot of the cross, tells his mother "behold thy son..." In this instance, Jesus gives all of us a legacy, we are His heirs, and Mary is our Mother. That is why we love Mary so much. And Jesus told the Son, the disciple, in other words, you and I - that now we have a Mother, Mary. And we ask Mary, who is closest to her Son in Heaven, to intercede with Him on our behalf. Mary, Our Mother, Queen of All. So we are no longer orphans... we have a Heavenly family of which we all are a part.

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Jesus feels this emptiness, this loneliness, as h e is waiting to die. He feels unloved, forgotten, hated, defiled.

Dear Jesus, never allow us to be so cut off from your love that we feel forgotten. When we dishonor God through sin, we often feel forsaken, and when we continue not to love Jesus, He will feel forgotten and unloved. The Father has given us great love, indescribable love, when we were created in God's image. He knows each one of us personally. So we are never forsaken or forgotten.

"I thirst."

Jesus wasn't really thirsting for water, as much as h e was thirsting for our love. When we say "Lord, I love you," let this not be just words, but may our actions, our love for our sisters and brothers, show this love for Him who redeemed us by his Cross.

"It is consumated"

It is done. It is over. Jesus finished what h e came to the world to accomplish, to redeem us from our sins by his Crucifixion. "Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses Himself with a sovereign freedom by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh."

"Father into thy hands I commend my spirit."

Jesus places all that he has into the Hands of God. His Body is buried, to arise from the dead three days later. His Soul ascends directly into Heaven, into the Hands of the Father. We pray that when it is our time to leave this earth, that our soul will also go to Heaven, as in our last breath, we say, Lord it is finished, I am now yours all the way.

***

Despite our outward circumstances and the downward spiral of moral, economic, political, and social conditions over the face of the earth, the "Good News" is that evil has already been dethroned and its power over mankind and nature broken. The new creation is as inevitable as springtime's greening and blossoming. The loving heart of God our Father longs for us to accept His mercy, His forgiveness and mercy. He has gone to infinite lengths to make provision for us in the cosmic sacrifice of the Son of His love.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (John 3:16-21

Jesus, on this Good Friday I join with the saints in heaven to mourn what my sin did to you, but also to rejoice in what your love did for me. May this litany be in my heart today: Cross of Jesus, purify me. Blood of Jesus, cleanse me. Wounds of Jesus, heal me. Love of Jesus, free me. Mercy of Jesus, forgive me.



The following video, Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong United (All of the Above), courtesy of You Tube .

Judi Lynn Lake has kept up with leading edge business trends throughout her varied and successful career. She had already had her ‘15 minutes of fame’ over and over again before starting her family. Judi and her family now reside in Charleston, South Carolina but, having been born and raised on Long Island, NY, it is clearly evident that she will always be a "New Yorker." Today, she successfully runs her own advertising agency, http://www.judilake.com, which handles everything from logos, branding and package design while she continues to work closely with self-published authors from design to promotion and has recently launched an International fashion magazine, Vigore! http://vigore-mag.com

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Teresa Ortiz
 2 years 304 days ago.
187 fans.
Hey Judi, very heart warming and passionate piece. Well done, almost missed this one, girlie! We will have to talk about Mary the Queen thing - yikes. (See the book of Jeremiah) :-) Love you! miss you! praying for you! Love, L
» left by Judi Lake 2 years 304 days ago.
99 fans. Follow Judi Lake on twitter!
Hey there Miss Teresa! thanks, I'm sure this had been missed by many but felt led to post it -- now, you do know that I am Roman Catholic which raises many eyes within fellow Christians but our fundamental beliefs are the same - I'm familiar with the passages you're speaking on however, having had been to Medjagore and experienced many things within my own life, I do believe in honoring Our Lady (Blessed Mother) - not on the same level of Jesus, of course, but as one who leads souls to her Son - so as long as we can agree on the fundamentals, sorry, Lucy, I can't be changed with Mary's role... but I think Robert Melaccio could explain things much better than I on this subject - Hope you had a great Easter!
» left by Judi Lake 2 years 304 days ago.
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Hey Teresa - I guess you made me think a bit regarding Mary's role within the Catholic Church - We don't "worship" Mary but, rather, honor her as the Mother of Jesus and of the Church. I am often saddened by the many misunderstandings regarding our traditions as well as the chronic link to paganism. With trying to answer you in "short-hand" I happened upon this explanation by chance and since I'm not as eloquent, I thought I'd just share this (which I found at cool catholics.blogspot ) -- Here goes:
"...Catholics keep great devotion to Mary because of her unique role in the redemptive work with her son.She is not an ordinary mother.In the birth of a human child, both father and mother cooperate with God to give the child a human flesh.In the case of Jesus, he received body and blood only from his mother.When Eve was taken from Adam, he called her bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh (Gen 2:23).Here, Mary can call Jesus more rightly flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone.Flesh of Jesus is the material blood of Mary.When she said Fiat, this young girl ofJudeawas surrendering herself to Gods plan.Abraham became the Father of Nations because of his great Faith and total surrender.Here because of her total surrender and extra ordinary faith, Mary became the Mother of new kingdom that was established by Jesus.After all, she is the most precious gift we received from the deathbed of Jesus uttered, Behold your mother (Jn. 19:22)She became not only the mother of John, but of all whom he redeemed through that crucifixion.She is the Mother of the church- the mystical body of Christ."
» left by Teresa Ortiz 2 years 304 days ago.
187 fans.
HI Judi,  I know you know I did not make that comment to do battle with you :-)  You the spirit in which I intended it.
 
Thanks for sending that explanation to me, I have studied Catholism intently. There are a lot of Catholics that worship Mary, she has been made co-redeemer and many people pray to her and the saints.  It is definitely a Catholic thing. As far as visions, well, that's a whole other discussion.
 
This an area we will definitely agree to disagree. God, speaking to the Israelites regarding the queen of heaven, seriously condemned what they were doing in honoring her in that sense because there is not a mother of the kingdom.  Using the passages of Adam and Eve and Abraham to show that Mary became the mother of the Kingdom of God is a far stretch.  She was merely left in John's care.  Nothing in Scripture supports this idea, not even Jesus told us to honor his mother in a more special way than we are to honor our father and mother.  In fact, Mary was only mentioned 5 times in the bible. I could walk through this indepthly with you, but I won't because I respect your position on this, but if you ever want to hear it from a strictly biblical view point as to why this is, and many other Catholic teachings are  linked to paganism, I will be happy to go over it with you.  (For informational purposes from a friend and sister in Christ and not some one who is judging you)
 
I know we are sisters in Christ, we agree on the fundamentals, but putting Mary as the Queen of Heaven comes pretty close to crossing the line when it comes to biblical teaching.  Don't misunderstand, Mary was special for sure, but she was a sinner just like you and I, she was not a perpertual virgin, and she died the same we you and I will.  She was chosen for her humility and recognition of her need of a Savior as she herself stated.
 
Thanks again, for sending me that portion of that teaching.  I think the key difference is most Catholics rely on their own doctrinal teachings and not just the Bible, and when the Bible teaches differently, they choose to believe the Catholic doctrine instead. At least, this has been my experience. 
 
Love you bunches! Give me a call girlie, we need to catch up!
 
Teresa
 
 
» left by Judi Lake 2 years 303 days ago.
99 fans. Follow Judi Lake on twitter!
Well, I know you better than to think we'd come to "battle" -I've read your comment. Again, Robert can probably explain this better than myself since I am not as versed in the bible as the both of you are. You are correct that even within some Catholics, the role of Mary (as well as other saints) is not understood and many have put her on the same level as Christ - that is not correct nor has the Church ever acknowledged that.

Ironically, I've been working out thoughts for a future post and, although still unrefined and abstract, I'll share what I've written so far -- again, this is rough yet, but still written from my heart and beliefs:

"Jesus returns to us through His Holy Spirit. He is born in us and we manifest Him to others as Mary did when she surrendered herself to the Holy Spirit and said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.

Mary is the human model of love: Because of her special relationship to the Holy Spirit, she, like Don Quixote in the song, The Impossible Dream,had to love others pure and chaste from afar, and this included her love for Joseph, her husband. This does not mean that she never touched Joseph or held him, but that their love never achieved the union that all married love seeks. The reason for this is not that there is something wrong with sex, but because she was already married to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she became the mother of Jesus, the mother of God Himself. Mary then becomes the model of all virginal love, of all celibate love. Because the virgin is wed to God Himself, his or her love for others never achieves union. But again, this does not mean that the virgin stops loving or keeps others at a "safe" distance. In fact, because of the virginal person's deep love of God, he or she can love others more deeply and more really than can those who have excluded God from their lives.

For the person wholly dedicated to God, love becomes the center of life. The virgin's love is the love of Christ Himself, loving his brothers and sisters in a warm yet non-possessive way..."

Perhaps an abstract reply to your comment but although never on the same level as Christ, Mary has a very important role in the Catholic Church - You know, Teresa, we've been here before and have had to "agree to disagree" but I'm grateful that our mutual respect goes beyond our vanity - My aim is never to persuade anyone towards my beliefs but, yes, I am convicted in what I do believe in and I thank you for respecting that!
» left by Teresa Ortiz 2 years 303 days ago.
187 fans.
Hi Judi, and I feel the same about you.  I love that we can discuss these things and understand the "why's" of our belief's
 
I just have one more question. Am I understanding that you believe Mary stayed a virgin the rest of her life?  The bible clearly tells us she had children by Joseph after Christ was born.  The bible tells us they had no relations UNTIL the birth Jesus.  Again, I believe it goes back to putting the Catholic doctrine above the Bible in these cases.  :-)
 
You know I am open, but I havenot seen anything in the Bible, nor has any Catholic been able to show me from the Bible the truth of this Catholic teaching.
 
We do agree that we are one in the invisable church (the body of christ) by our faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the endwelling of the Holy Spirit, and in this all believers will one day be with the Lord and all our differences will be laid to rest.  It is about Jesus and Him Crucified and Resurrection and walking in faith and the grace of God unto obedience.
 
Love you girlie!
 
 
» left by Judi Lake 2 years 303 days ago.
99 fans. Follow Judi Lake on twitter!

Mmmm okay, Teresa, let me try to answer this as best as I can. If I ever unpack, I will send you the book, Catholic and Christian, which was written by Alan Schreck but for now Im writing this in a word doc first so that I can be more careful with my reply to you Although Ive encountered this all my life, I still stumble with the right words since this is simply a black and white issue within my heart in seeing the length of my response, this may as well be another article but here goes although I am not trying to convince anyone of my beliefs:

Many non-Catholic Christians, like yourself, dont understand what Catholics believe about Mary. As a result, Catholic Marian beliefs have become a focal point in questions about the Catholic Church. If it can be shown that even one Marian belief is not true, then the Catholic claim of infallible teaching is wrong.

To non-Catholics, the honor shown to Mary appears to be nothing other than the worship of Mary. This would place Mary on a level with God and be a violation of the First Commandment. Some non-Catholics have even gone so far as to coin the word "Mariolotry" for the Catholic devotion given to Mary. In fact, Catholic worship is reserved only for God. The Catholic Church even has special words for all this: latria is the worship offered and due to God alone, and dulia is the veneration given to the saints, including Mary [although hyperdulia (more than dulia, but far less than latria) is the term applied to the honor given to Mary]. The words "latria," "dulia" and "hyperdulia" can be confusing to the layperson however, even though they come from the New Testament Greek, because we don't commonly use them (and they can appear to be nothing but smoke-and-mirrors to the non-Catholic who has never heard of them before).

The first question puts this whole area of discussion in perspective. Protestants, in their worship services, offer songs and praise and prayer to God; this is their highest form of worship. Since they don't have a priesthood, they have nothing else they can offer. Catholics on the other hand, offer the Sacrifice of the Mass to God. Our offering of sacrifice is made only to God and is our form of worship. This allows us to give lesser things such as songs and praise and prayer to those who can pray in our behalf before God: the saints and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the Protestants see us offering what is their highest form of worship to someone other than God, it appears to them that we are worshiping someone other than God.

Why all this special attention given to Mary? Because she is Jesus' mother, the person who gave Him all His genetically human characteristics. Normally, a person gets their genetic characteristics from both the father and the mother but in the case of Jesus there was no human father to provide the genes which would be combined with Mary's. Mary is honored because God honored her by choosing her to be the mother of Jesus. All Catholic doctrines concerning Mary are related to and emerge from our understanding of her Son. Mary has no significance apart from Jesus. Mary says in Holy Scripture "from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1:48 KJV).

The title "Mother of God" was first formally applied to Mary by the Church at the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431. This council was the 3rd ecumenical council of the Church. An ecumenical council is a general meeting of all the bishops of the Church whose (the council's) works are approved by a pope. The Council of Ephesus was called to answer the heresy of Nestorianism (which denied that Jesus was a person who was both fully divine and fully human), and the heresy of Pelagianism (which held that man could earn his own salvation through his natural powers). Pope Celestine I approved the works of this council.

The New Testament documents the fulfillment of the Old Testament. In this regard, Abraham is called the father of all believers because he is the first to have unconditionally said "yes" to God throughout his life and willingly offered his son as sacrifice. Likewise, Mary is called the mother of all believers because she is the first to have unconditionally said "yes" to God and bore Him the Son who was sacrificed for us all. God chose Mary to be the mother of His Son (Luke 1:31-32). Without the assent of this human woman, the birth of Jesus would not have taken place. Jesus has God as His father and Mary as His mother. Because she is Jesus' mother, the one who gave birth to Him, and because Jesus is God (one person both fully human and fully divine), Mary is called the "Mother of God."

All of this said, the title "Mother of God" is not without Biblical basis. In Holy Scripture it is recorded that Elizabeth says to Mary: "But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43, NIV). Many people today are disturbed by the title "Mother of God" although they have no problem with the title "Mother of Jesus." They then portray Mary as giving birth only to the human nature of Jesus. The problem with this approach is that Jesus is a person who possesses concurrently both human and divine natures. To ascribe only one nature would be a return to the Nestorian heresy. Mary gave birth to a person who was not a schizophrenic, sometimes human and sometimes divine, but fully human and divine at the same time. The natures cannot be separated. Mary gave birth to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who is God.

And to answer your final question: Am I understanding that you believe Mary stayed a virgin the rest of her life yes, that is correct, Teresa. Within Catholicism, we firmly believe that Mary was both a virgin and sinless. Both these beliefs have been held by the Church since the earliest times. In the case of Mary's perpetual virginity, this belief is based on Holy Scripture: "How can this be since I know not man?" (Luke 1:34, KJV).

Mary is not asking for instructions in sexual reproduction, she no doubt has a good idea of how babies are made. She is, at this point in her life, married to Joseph although they do not yet live together. The Scriptures tell us that the angel said "you will be with child" (Luke 1:31), not "you are with child." The angel is talking about a future event and the normal result of sexual relations in marriage after she and Joseph lived together would have been a child. Mary's statement in Luke 1:34 makes no sense unless there is a vow of lifelong virginity involved, even in marriage.

The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament contained the word of God (the tablets containing the commandments). Likewise, Mary's womb was the Ark of the New Covenant which was used to hold the Incarnate Word of God.

Now let's look at the issue of Mary's sinless nature. Consider that when the angel addresses Mary at the annunciation, the greeting is almost a name change: "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28, KJV).

Mary (Miriam in Hebrew) means "beloved." In biblical times a person's name reflected what they were. Name changes have great theological significance in the Bible and this is almost as if her name is being changed from "beloved" to "thou that art highly favored." Since this is before Jesus has been conceived, to what is the angel referring? No doubt to her singular devotion to God, forsaking all earthly distractions and desecrations, and the fact that she had been conceived without sin in preparation for this event.

Being conceived without sin does not mean that Mary had no need of a redeemer. In fact, like every descendant of Adam, Mary had vital need of a redeemer. Mary's freedom from original sin was an unmerited gift of God in that she was redeemed by Christ at the moment of her conception. It is at the moment of conception that God creates the soul and hers was created in a state of sanctifying grace. If you had the opportunity to create your mother, wouldn't you make her perfect in every way? This is why there are the doctrines of the perpetual virginity and immaculate conception of Mary.

Jesus refers to Mary's sinless nature when He addresses her as "woman" in John 2:4 and 19:26. Today, one looks at Him addressing her in this manner and thinks this is disrespectful or that He is admonishing her. In fact, Mary was not the first sinless woman, Adam's wife was also created sinless. When she was first created, Adam named her "woman" (Genesis 2:23). It was after the fall, when she was no longer sinless, that her name was changed to "Eve" (Genesis 3:20). By referring to Mary as "woman," Jesus is recognizing her sinless nature - name changes in Holy Scripture are important.

Hope I did better in explaining myself and apologize in advance for taking up all of searchwarps space!

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