644 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ 07652

Good Friday: The Story of Our Salvation – By His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak

April 22, 2022
in Feature Articles, The Word
No Comments
365

Knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the future might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” Now, a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there filled with hyssop.

“It is finished,” he said, and bowing his head he gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30)

A blessed Good Friday to you all my brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. We find ourselves again gathered before the cross mourning the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The beautiful colors and joy of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem Palm Sunday morning is replaced with the color of death as we pass through the week of His passion and ascent to Golgotha.

It was 3 o’clock when the Lord of the Universe called. He could barely speak. A soldier fixed a sponge to his spear and held it to Jesus’s lips. It was terribly bitter, but it was enough. He struggled to raise His head and look up to heaven, as He said, “It is finished.”

He cried and then bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

When Jesus spoke those final words, he wasn’t just saying “this is the end of me.” This was not and end. But rather, he was saying the task was finished and nothing else could be added to what had been done. Nobody can add anything to what has been done by Jesus to save us.

He has paid the price in full. He has cancelled all debts. His sacrifice had been a perfect one acceptable to the heavenly father who was looking down on his son hanging lifelessly from the cross and saying “Well done. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

It is finished. Everything is complete. What does that mean?

It means that reconciliation has been brought about. The terrible gap between God and all humanity, and the evil, has now been atoned. Our offenses and our obedience, which had destroyed our relationship with God, has been restored by the Lord’s death on the cross.

For this very purpose, God sent his only begotten son into the world. God did all this for us, for you and for me. He did this out of love for all of this.

St. Paul, in his letter to Romans Chapter 5:8-10, says God has shown us how much he loves us. It was while we were still sinners that God died for us. We were God’s enemies, but He made us his friends through the death of his son.

That is how much God loves us. Jesus died for us even though we don’t deserve it. His death has made us God’s friends and God’s children.

He came so you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us victory and enter His kingdom and live forever. The passion of the Lord Christ is a story of the very worst of human experience, but also a story of the love that is in us to take it all and transform.

It is a story of deep of profound grace and amazing challenge.

It is a story of our salvation.

Learn more in the Good Friday sermon from His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak here.

share

Recommended Posts