Every year, Good Friday is celebrated all over the World. In some countries, some of the Christian devotees physically torture themselves to imitate the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian is familiar of the event description of how our Lord Jesus Christ had gone through. Everybody criticised the action of Judas Iscariot. What made him so cruel to his Lord? Perhaps, his perception of the Messiah was wrong. He might have thought Jesus was not doing the way God’s Messiah was expected to do. He was going too slow. He might have wanted simply to force Jesus to do as he wished Him to do. Our lives are all stained by this way of thinking in our everyday life.
Let us go back to the temptation of Jesus. He had to go through this test immediately after His baptism. It is essential for Him to go through this before He embark on His ministry. He had to choose His way or God’s way. We associate the word “temptation” as to entice others to do wrong. We understand it as to seduce somebody to sin.
However, the original text of “temptation” as it is translated in English is not what it means. The English word of the original text means “Test”. To ascertain a strength. Jesus knew that He was God’s Messiah. He must decide what method He would use in His ministry to win men to God. In the World today, leaders, one after another, are trying to use material things to get their followers. But Jesus would not bribe them to follow Him. He would use persuasion by grace to follow Him. He said “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceed from the mouth of God” Matt.4:4. Secondly, He would not use sensation with signs and wonders to win His followers. Those who depend on such sensations is not faith at all. Jesus answered “you must not put the Lord your God to the test.” Deu.6:16. Thirdly, the Devil wanted Him to compromise with the World. Put your standard to the level of the World. Then everybody will follow you. “Fall down and worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the World”. Jesus answered him “you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” Matt4:10. His way was not the way the devil had suggested. His only way was the way of the Cross.
For Centuries, the Jews had been waiting, the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus came, they thought He was merely one of the Prophets. He asked the disciples, “who do you say I am”? Peter was quick to answer. All the three gospels tell us about this conversation. What Mark says is the shortest. But Luke’s description is the clearest (Lk.9:20) “You are the Christ of God.” Jesus told Peter “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonas, because flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but by My Father Who is in heaven”. Still, they had not grasped the real meaning of God’s Messiah. Their perception was wrong. They thought of Him as a conquering Messiah, a warrior king, who would liberate them from the Roman Rule. Jesus cautioned them to be silent. If they went to the crowd and spread their own ideas, it would bring nothing but a tragic rebellion of violence. Before they go out to the people, they must learn the real meaning of the Messiah. He wanted to see the vertic of His disciples. He must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the orthodox religious leaders. Peter, as usual, try to prevent Him of taking that step. Jesus told him “get behind me, Satan”. Literally it means “Peter, your place is behind me, not in front of Me “. Your place is to follow Me in the way I choose and not the way you would like Me to go. He demonstrated to them that there was no other way but the way of the Cross.
On that Good Friday, while Jesus was hanging on the Cross, the Devil was having a good time. He was dancing around, how successfully he had incited the crowd and how he had deceived the religious leaders of the day. How successfully he had orchestrated, manipulated and stage-managed everything. He thought he had successfully eliminated Jesus. What a dead man can do! But suddenly, Jesus cried out with a loud voice “It is finished”. The Devil was taken aback. He started asking all those who were standing there. what did He say? Did He say “I am finished”? Everybody answered, He did not say “I am finished” but “It is finished”. That very moment, the Devil realised that he was already a gonner. He was finished and not Jesus. What is that “IT”? It is the purpose of God for which Jesus came. The Devil thought, he was wise but what he had all along been doing was simply accomplishing the purpose of God. The whole World is in turmoil today but let us be courageous. God is accomplishing His purpose through all these things that are happening in the World today.
Let us look beyond Good Friday. Focus on to the Resurrection and press on towards the prize of God’s high calling. Amen
Dr. L.M. Murry
