Passover Lamb

Today: 2 Chronicles 35-36

"It's Friday. It's good. Thank God."

This is my current Facebook status update...which has multiple meanings. For one thing, I pretty much love every Friday. And every day (yeah, even a Monday!) is a day to thank God. But today is also Good Friday--a very significant day on the calendar that marks a very significant day in history.

In some ways, it's odd that today is called Good Friday because if you know the story, it seems...well, sad. An innocent God-man died a brutal, unjust death for people who didn't deserve it--people like me.

It's interesting that today's passage includes a description of a Passover celebration (despite the fact that our reading program was "randomly" selected based on an Internet site!). To the people of Israel, Passover was a celebration--it's a holiday that marks the miraculous fact that God saved His people from death and destruction.

In today's passage, thousands of lambs were sacrificed to pay the price for peoples' sins. What makes today Good Friday? You and I don't have to kill thousands of lambs to pay for our sins...because one perfect Lamb of God already paid the ultimate price. It's Good Friday because Jesus loved me and you that much. It's Good Friday because we got the best and biggest gift of all time. It's Good Friday because unlike the people in today's passage, you and I don't have to go through ceremonies and priests to talk to God--we can have direct communication with Him. It's Good Friday because we serve a God who knows what it's like to face pain and suffering as a human being. What other god or religion believes in a God who actually understands, empathizes and relates to our human experience?

It's Good Friday. Thank God. We've got A LOT to be thankful for.

Tomorrow: Ezra 1-3