Good Friday, 1987
Jesus, You know I do not understand
Your love, Your sacraments, Your sufferings,
Your grace exalting me with priests and kings
Reigning forever in the Promised Land.
I am a child who takes his father’s hand
Walking along the beach, who while he clings
Fears not the surf, but begs a tale that brings
Him dreams of sailing far beyond the strand.
O tell me once again and I’ll receive
The things I cannot know and count them true:
How if I were the only man to grieve
The heart of God, You’d take Your cross anew
(I do not understand, but I believe)
Quite a few years ago, when I was in my teens and going through a poetry phase, I was able to purchase a book of sonnets. It was sold by James Jordan, an amazing Pastor and scholar, and written by a man named Philip Rosenbaum. Every year I try to read through my Holy Week Sonnets. They have been such an encouragement to me. Check out http://christianpoet.org/Poetry_of_Philip_Rosenbaum/Home.html to read more of them.
Good Friday is indeed a good day. It was also the worst day in the life of our Savior. Today I was meditating on what our Lord went through. When I read Mark 15, this part stuck out to me:
"Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said,
'He saved others; Himself He cannot save.'" (vs. 31)
What's funny about this passage is, even though the pharisees and scribes were mocking Jesus, what they said was true. Jesus did save others. He saved His chosen people, and He was in the process of saving others while He was on the cross. He could not save His loved ones if He only cared about saving Himself. Christ is the epitomy of unselfishness. He couldn't save Himself even if He wanted to, because He had put His life in His Father's hands: "Thy will be done!"
Isn't this how God created life to work? The only way we can save ourselves is by saving other people.
It is a beautifully strange truth. "Lose your life, and you will find it..."
=) Happy Good Friday!
To die for me, that I might live for You.
--Philip Rosenbaum
Quite a few years ago, when I was in my teens and going through a poetry phase, I was able to purchase a book of sonnets. It was sold by James Jordan, an amazing Pastor and scholar, and written by a man named Philip Rosenbaum. Every year I try to read through my Holy Week Sonnets. They have been such an encouragement to me. Check out http://christianpoet.org/Poetry_of_Philip_Rosenbaum/Home.html to read more of them.
Good Friday is indeed a good day. It was also the worst day in the life of our Savior. Today I was meditating on what our Lord went through. When I read Mark 15, this part stuck out to me:
"Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said,
'He saved others; Himself He cannot save.'" (vs. 31)
What's funny about this passage is, even though the pharisees and scribes were mocking Jesus, what they said was true. Jesus did save others. He saved His chosen people, and He was in the process of saving others while He was on the cross. He could not save His loved ones if He only cared about saving Himself. Christ is the epitomy of unselfishness. He couldn't save Himself even if He wanted to, because He had put His life in His Father's hands: "Thy will be done!"
Isn't this how God created life to work? The only way we can save ourselves is by saving other people.
It is a beautifully strange truth. "Lose your life, and you will find it..."
=) Happy Good Friday!
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