Holy Week – Good Friday

Mark 15:22-25, 37, 39
‘The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.” There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it. They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes.  It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross. Jesus shouted and then died. A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”

Gracious God, as we reflect on the events of Good Friday, we come to You overwhelmed by the depth of Jesus’ love for us. We give thanks for His commitment to defeat evil, even at the cost of His own suffering and his own death. In his willingness to restore the relationship with humankind, he poured himself out to death, even death on a cross. And so, this Easter time, help us to respond to such love and sacrifice, help us to re-commit ourselves in devotion to Him as we pray for a world free from all that brings violence, conflict, suffering, injustice and oppression. As we approach Easter Sunday, may we know the joy and the hope of the love of our risen Lord, in whose name we pray, Amen.