City of Grace Mesa

Those early disciples standing at the foot of the cross would not have considered this a "Good Friday." It was anything but good.

It was horrifying.

It was unimaginable.

It was inexplicable.

And then time offered them the gift of perspective.

The full realization of exactly what had happened that fateful Friday on the hill called Golgotha didn't even dawn on most of them Sunday morning as we have often heard in sermons about the glory of the resurrection.  For most of them it came slowly, gradually, like a heavy fog being burnt off a lake by the rising of the sun.

It began with rumors whispered behind closed doors by trusted friends, "He's alive. He really is. He's alive!" And it ended with Jesus standing before them, days later, inviting them to touch His wounded hands and side.

Perspective has a remarkable way of healing our pain, restoring our faith, and renewing our passion.

Knowing our tendency towards misperception, the Apostle Paul prayed for God to grant us the gift of perspective.

"Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places..." Ephesians 1:15-20

This weekend thousands of precious people will walk onto our City of Grace campuses and into our auditoriums desperately in need of an eternal perspective on what matters most in life. And my prayer is that as we consider the mystery and the wonder that is Easter that God will open our eyes to all He has provided for us through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, the Savior of the world.

Because of what we now know, we can call this Good Friday.