'Good' Friday ... a dark day

"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the King of the Jews?" Pilate asked the crowd.

"Crucify him!" they shouted.

"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate ... had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Mark 15:12-15

'Crucifixion of Christ' by Stephen B Whatley, drawn Easter 2010

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,

sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Isaac Watts, 1707

And when the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said,

"Truly this man was the Son of God!"

Mark 15:39

A true and enduring message, recorded by Mark soon after Jesus' death, inspiring hymn writers through the centuries, and as relevant and challenging today as ever.

I am thankful that God didn't choose to end the story on 'Good' Friday. The 'good' was to come two days later!