Reflection Questions for Good Friday

It is customary on Good Friday, that day when we remember Jesus Christ crucified, to say a few words about the cross. However, sometimes in the hubbub of commentary, we can lose the posture of reflection and meditation which this sweetest and darkest of days warrants. So this year, I would simply invite you to spend a few moments reflecting on some of these questions.

1. What does it tell us about who God is that Jesus insists, in the face of His execution, that no one takes His life from Him but rather that He lays it down?

2. How does it change our perception of our suffering to recognize that God rules and comforts us as a fellow sufferer?

3. What does it look like to model our obedience on Jesus who, in His humanity, willingly takes up the cross in submission to His Father's will?

4. What does it mean, when we consider the seriousness of our sin, to recognize that it took crucifixion and divine abandonment for Jesus to pay its price?

5. What does it mean, when we are burdened by guilt or shame, for Jesus to declare over our sin "it is finished"?

6. How should the fact that God's cosmic victory was won through submission to his enemies and seeming defeat change our ideas of power and success?

7. How does it change our relationship to death to recognize that Jesus Himself did not flee it, but sought even in His dying to glorify the Father and work love for the world?

8. What does it mean to recognize the goodness of the cross and take up our own crosses while still also longing for death's defeat and the resurrection?

Comments

  1. A group of friends and I reflected on some of your questions this Good Friday. The Spirit truly worked among us, as we were shown how inferior our own ideas of submission were. Thank you for putting these up online.

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  2. yes, thank you for this. Number 2 and 8 great reminder for me.

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