Thoughts on Good Friday

Good Friday is a very somber service.  During the Office of Tenebrae (where we read the last 7 words of Christ and extinguish candles), we sang verses of several hymns after each reading.  The first hymn we sang was "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," a very moving hymn.

O sacred head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded With thorns, your only crown.
O sacred head, what glory, And bliss did once combine
Though now despised and gory, I joy to call you mine.

How pale you are with anguish, With sore abuse and scorn!
Your face, your eyes now languish, Which once were bright as morn.
Now from your cheeks are vanished Their color once so fair;
From loving lips is banished The splendor that was there.

All this for my transgression, My wayward soul to win;
This torment of your Passion, To set me free from sin.
I cast myself before you, Your wrath my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore you, O Lord, condemn me not!

Here will I stand beside you, Your death for me my plea;
Let all the world deride you, I clasp you close to me.
My awe cannot be spoken, To see you crucified;
But in your body broken, Redeemed, I safely hide!

What language can I borrow To thank you, dearest friend,
For this your dying sorrow, Your mercy without end?
Bind me to you forever, Give courage from above;
Let not my weakness sever Your bond of lasting love.

Lord, be my consolation, My constant source of cheer;
Remind me of your Passion, My shield when death is near.
I look in faith, believing That you have died for me;
Your cross and crown receiving, I live eternally.

Everyone wants to have a nice, clean Jesus as their Savior.  But if you read the accounts in the Gospels of the final day of Christ, you will see that He was not nice and clean.  He was beaten, scourged, bloody, and down right nasty to look at.  That is the cost of our sins.  That is what was necessary to make us children of God.