Encouragement

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FRIDAY'S HERE, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING

Friday is here. The day had arrived when the author of innocence and truth was put under arrest. This most peculiar King of all the earth had become the prisoner of infidels. The leader of the armies of God sat in silence while He was reviled by secular soldiers of even the lowest rank. The most majestic Master of mountains, monuments and high places received humiliation and mockery from nobodies.

"Hail to you, King of the Jews!" They all bowed and prostrated themselves, laughing hysterically. Surrounded by soldiers, he felt their spit splash on his face and run down his cheek.

Whack! - He felt a blow to the head. Whack! - A blow to the face. The Leader of heavenly legions lays seemingly helpless on the ground as he is beaten with clubs and brutalized by police.

"AHHH!" He screams as the sharp pain of thorns piercing deep into his scalp races through his nerves. "Here's your crown King Nothing!"

All goes dark as he is blindfolded. He feels the quick strike of a fist against his cheek. He is punched in the face repeatedly. "Prophesy! Who hit you?" He who is, himself, the greatest revelation of God and from God is mockingly called upon to guess the fist.

Arrayed in a robe of rejection, he is brought to court. The Judge of all the earth sat on trial before the governor of but a speck on the globe.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Nothing.

"What is your defense?"

No answer.

"What have you done?" The defendant was as silent as the grave to the questions posed by the judge even though the chamber was filled with the deafening roar of his accusers.

"Don't you understand what they're saying about you?! Don't you know that your life is in my power?!"

Finally an answer-"You have no power but that which is given to you from God."

These were shocking words in the ears of the governor. But even though this King of kings had managed in one breath to put his judge on trial, his situation still remained seemingly void of all hope.

Torn between popularity, pride, peacekeeping and conscience, this governor proclaimed before the mob "I find no guilt in this man!" Though capable of a sound verdict, the governor was a coward; and so the sentence reflected the cowardice. The governor delivered him over to the mob.

Though he was pronounced "not guilty," the alleged criminal was scourged. Surely he was already bruised, bleeding and exhausted from his experience with the soldiers. But now he was to face the flogging of a whip across his back. He did not endure one lash, nor two, but many. He suffered numerous stinging snaps against his skin--blinding flashes of pain in which he felt as though his flesh were on fire.

What went through his mind as he experienced the blinding pain of the leather straps snap against his skin? How did he feel as the bone fragments attached to the leather straps pierced his skin and ripped off his flesh? He endured a punishment that most do not survive. Not only did he last through this awful whipping, he was yet to undergo the worst.

Why this? Why was it all happening this way? Where were his authoritative oratory skills? Where was his parable for this situation? Where was his enlightening thought for this scenario? What happened to the unmatchable wit and cleverness with which he had dealt with the religious scholars and professors who opposed him? Where was his stern clarity in dealing with human behavior?

Why didn't he fly away as he had walked on water? Why didn't he perform a miracle that would prove them all wrong? Why did the Helper seem so helpless? Why did the Giver seem to be in such need? Why did the Rescuer need to be rescued? Why was the one who claimed to be everything doing nothing? What a tremendous puzzle! What a day of great confusion and grief! Yes, Friday is here. But…

Sunday is coming. On Sunday the most monumental fact of human history would occur. Sunday - when without one breath, he would speak volumes more than he ever had before. On Sunday he would unearth the greatest of all revelations. Silently, he would preach his most penetrating sermon and teach his most powerful object lesson. He would accomplish the single greatest act of personal validation.

He would scourge all of his accusers with the burning conviction of their sin; and he would do so with a severity of far more than numerous lashes, and yet would provide them not with sevenfold forgiveness, but with seventy times seven. He would become the Great Physician to treat the wounds of those who had been whipped across the back with the sting of their sin. He would bruise the tough-hided and prick the hard-hearted.

He would forever prove that he was the Judge of all the earth, and not a common criminal before the governor of Judea. He would provide the ultimate answer to any question posed by a judge or accusation laid to his charge by his prosecutors. He would accomplish the greatest unspoken defense against his challengers. He would scour his skeptics and rip the rug from underneath any seemingly coherent argument posed against his true identity.

In one great uprising he would show his scoffers that they had spit in their own faces. He would mortify his mockers, and yet grant a place of peace to the penitent.

Sunday is coming-when the one who seemed so helpless in the custody of Roman guards would offer more help and healing than he ever had in his earthly ministry. The one who seemed to be in such need would become the greatest Giver of all. The one who needed to be rescued would make rescue available for all mankind. The one who was put under arrest and held captive by guards would become the greatest Emancipator of all time.

On Sunday he would heal broken hearts and restore broken homes. He would become a doctor to those who found themselves in a bleeding mass of spiritual carnage. On Sunday he would give the weary a place to rest and the downtrodden arms upon which to lean. He would bring the lowly to walk on clouds. He would break the chains of those held in bondage by greed, lust, hatred or pride.

To those who thirst he would give a source of living waters that never run dry. To those who hunger he would provide a feast of heavenly nourishment. To those who wander without direction he would be a leader and guide.

He would become the true north to those wave-battered ships lost at sea. To those who are outcast and excluded he would invite them in to a place of prominence at his wondrous banquet table. To those drowning in loneliness he would become a hand to hold and a friend to embrace, being a warm companion to all who need him whether they happen to be on a deserted island in the middle of the sea or on a crowded, busy street.

(If you would like to read the rest of this piece--the above only represents about 25% of the total work--or if you'd like to discuss it's use with me, please email me at [email protected])

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