On Good Friday, I participated in a walk through Sandusky with a group of people from various churches in the area. We walked about a mile and half, stopping along the way to reflect on the words of Jesus from the cross and pray together.
During each leg of the walk, someone in the group had an opportunity to carry a full-size cross that we carried the entire mile and a half.
I was one of the people who carried the cross. While walking with the cross on my shoulder, I thought about how Jesus felt carrying his cross, envisioning how it must have been, treated as a criminal, walking to a sure and painful death.
His crime? Loving his neighbor. Standing up against the power structures of government, religion, and royalty. Punished for his unwillingness to play their games of control, power, coercion, and domination.
In a world where the outsider and outcast were exploited and excluded, Jesus feasted with, healed, and welcomed those the power structures sought to minimize.
But Jesus was more than a social reformer. He came to turn the world upside down and usher in the kingdom of God. To create a world where swords are turned into plowshares, enemies become neighbors, the last becomes first, and true power comes from humility and sacrifice.
For a few minutes on Friday, I experienced a little more palpably what Jesus felt on that lonely walk on a Friday two millennia ago. It was indeed a Good Friday, because it was the day I AM showed that overcoming sin is accomplished not by trying to be morally perfect, but by laying down your life, loving your neighbor, and forgiving even those that brutally murder you.
Breaking Into Peace 