Good Friday

Last night, for the 28th time, I got to hear my dad preach the annual Maundy Thursday sermon ... my favorite service of the year. This remembrance of the last supper and the betrayal and trial of Jesus is the pinnacle sermon of the year. Nothing else in all of the Christian faith amounts to anything without this, the last supper and crucifixion of Christ. I love this sermon because it always brings me back to the cross. In my heart, I get to see and hear the beating, the flogging, the screams, the blood, the mocking, the spitting, the crying, the laughing, and the suffering of my savior ... and I'm reminded that he chose to endure all of that for ME (and for YOU).

There was a passage that was read during the sermon last night that I've heard many times in my life, but penetrated my heart like never before:

(NIV) Matthew 26:50, "Friend, do what you came for."

This year is the fourth year in a row that I have had the privilege of doing an Easter play. The first two years I played the role of Jesus, last year I was doubting Thomas, and this year I'm portraying Judas. For a while, I joked around a lot about having been "demoted" from Jesus down to Judas, but after last night's sermon I have a new perspective.

Growing up, I didn't have many friends. Throughout junior high and senior high I really only had one friend. I believe that God blessed me with Steve, my best friend of 19 years now, to show me the significance of the friendship Jesus offers. It is because of these two relationships in my life that I count friendship to be one of, if not THE, most valuable and precious things in this world.

When I heard the words, "Friend, do what you came for" last night, a new light was given on who Judas was and what he must have gone through. Judas never thought in his wildest imagination that there was any way Jesus would or could actually die. Judas loved Jesus and knew him to be the savior. His intentions weren't to send Jesus to his death, but rather to speed up the process of Jesus' reign and force him to stand up to those in opposition to him and bring down the tyrant rule of the Romans.

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew the pain, suffering, and humiliation he was about to endure, and he knew Judas was going to start the chain of effects. After pleading with God to prevent that night from happening, after being so terrified that his body couldn't handle his fear and he began to sweat blood through his pours, after needing God the Father to send down angles to comfort and calm him down so he wouldn't die before facing the cross, he stood face to face with Judas and called him "Friend". Jesus had already forgiven Judas for his act of ultimate betrayal ... if only Judas had listened, realized, and accepted that forgiveness!

So today, on the greatest of all Fridays, there is one word that speaks to me and brings clarity to what this weekend and what the Christian faith is all about: FRIEND