INRI

I am watching The Passion of the Christ to help me experience one of my favorite days of the Christian calendar.  I feel like you can really only watch this movie when it is dark out, and a special treat for me this year, it is storming out currently- to top it all off.

It probably seems odd that Good Friday is my favorite.  But if you think about it, we focus so much on the happy things.  The bible lacks imagery.  It lacks what this day and age needs to fully grasp what it means to suffer and die.  The Passion does a good job of reminding us what our Lord had to actually endure for our salvation.  "Suffered, died, and was buried" is easy to say without having any concept of what it really means. And so to be a Christian is easy.  To have a relationship with Christ is easy and superficial - because we have no conception of what he did for us. 
But I think even more so than that - it is so easy to focus on the happy things.  Yay, Jesus is born!  Yay, Jesus is Risen!  It is so easy to skim over the hard stuff.  But Jesus got the absolute shit beaten out of Him.  His suffering really did end all other suffering.  We have no right to complain about our "problems" in comparison.  And then He died on the cross.  And then he descended to hell to beat Satan.  And I can't imagine that was an easy battle.  I can't see the devil being like, alright Jesus - you got me this time, here is my handle on the souls of human kind.  But we don't focus on any of that really.  We don't have sermons that paint a picture of what happened.  But we sure do focus a lot on The Resurrection of Christ.  And understandably so. 
Good Friday strengthens my relationship with the Lord.  It reminds me of what love really means.  And it reminds me that this life, no matter how painful, is only temporary.  Good Friday also reminds me that I am weak and that I am consumed by sinfulness.  It gives me initiative to strengthen myself against my weaknesses, and though every year I fail horribly at not giving in to temptation, I still try. 

What have I done to you, O my People, and wherein have I offended you?  Answer Me. For I have raised you up out of the prison house of sin and death, and you have delivered up your Redeemer to be scourged.  For I have redeemed you from the house of bondage, and you have nailed your Savior to a cross.
-Good Friday Service Meditation

Forgive them, for they know not what they do.