Friday...

Mark 15:16-37
The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers.  They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.  And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him.  And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.  They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).  Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.  It was the third hour when they crucified him.

The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.  They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days,  come down from the cross and save yourself!"  In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself!  Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."  One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.

 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last….

"And Lord God, may all my friends who read this find themselves at the buffet of your grace, tasting until their soul is satisfied and your will is fulfilled.  May your words find new corners of their spirits to illuminate and heal.  May the moments between Friday and Sunday be occupied with the work of your Spirit breathing new life and infectious wholeness into their soul.  May you ready them for Sunday.  God, get them ready for Sunday!  Get their voice ready to praise and their spirits ready to celebrate.  Get their hands ready to applaud you.  Get their feet ready to follow you.  Get their anticipaters growing and their wanters pure.  Get them ready to dive into the river they may have been wading in. 

May we all, all of us – young and old, the teen who is worried about the life in front of them and the adult who regrets the life behind them, the comfortable and the ravished, the one who hungers and the one who hides, the one who is new in faith and the one who has forgotten the heartbeat of newness, the one who had a rotten week and the one who has found reason to smile.  May we all be ready to take up the cross and leave the tomb in new life!!!

In the name of JESUS our Savior and Lord – Amen. 

Loved and In Love,

Dave