Good Friday-Holy Week 2007

The crowd that cried, "Hosanna!" on Sunday is today crying "Crucify him!" Why the change? What made the crowd turn from honoring Jesus to wanting him dead? Perhaps the crowd discovered in the intervening days that Jesus was no king that could get them out of the problems with Rome. Perhaps it was the chief priests and other religious politicians that incited the crowd to crucify him. Or perhaps it was something much more simpler then that, something more personal--my sin, and your sin. Our sin is what sent Jesus to the cross. It was the sentence that he had to bear on our behalf; because left to our own devices we would not make it. Our failure is too great, but the promise is true: "God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).

"Crucifixus etiam pronobis: sub Pontio Pilato passus et se pultus est." ~Antonio Lotti
"He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate and was buried.

"Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: Miserere nobis. Suscipe deprecationem nostram; qui sedes ad dexteram Patris. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: Miserere nobis; Dona nobis pacem." ~Sir. Edward Elgar
"Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world: have mercy on us. Receive our supplication; who sits at the right hand of the Father. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; Grant us peace."

The Light is gone. The great silence.