The Haters of Good Friday

Photo from here.

It's been three weeks since we remembered Good Friday.

That horrible day that witnessed evil, yet we call it good.

Some believe by faith what Jesus accomplished. Others don't.

But what was true then is still true 2,000 years later: the haters still lurk.

They follow you as you follow Christ.

They surrounded Jesus wherever He went.

Projecting doubt. Frowning disagreement. Hurling insults. Questioning his authority.

Haters.

They hated Jesus.

   What he stood for.

      Who he stood against.

         Where he stood to make his points.

After three years of public ministry, the hate boiled over.

Fists raised. Eyes wild. Necks bulged with vocal strain. The crowd pressed in with crowded hearts on Jesus' last hours shouting: "Crucify him!"

And Jesus suffered excruciating pain.

Brutally flogged by soldiers. Punctured carelessly by thorns. And dressed in a robe as they mocked, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

Morbid spectators lined the Via Dellarosa watching his trail of blood toward Calvary.

   Spitting.

      Hurling.

         Taunting.

            Hating.

And the ultimate hater roamed to and fro. He and his legions tasting victory.

Prowling like a roaring lion, Satan didn't pass off that job to a demon underling.

It was the moment he'd been waiting for. Pursuing relentlessly every since the star shone over Bethlehem. To kill the Son of God.

There's passion in the hating.

Standing in direct opposition to everything God stands for stands the haters.

Can you see them? They're not the people you dislike. Or disagree with.

You can't see them because it's a battle in the spiritual realm.

Satan and his legions working tirelessly. Every day. Hating.

Satan in heaven accusing us. His legions on earth tempting, luring, and destroying hearts and lives.

But their victory rings shallow because of Good Friday and a stone rolled away three days later.

But that doesn't keep them from hating. Stirring up trouble. Causing mayhem.

That's where we stand these three weeks later. In a world tossed and torn by the hater and his legions. Sometimes we're in excruciating pain.

But because of what Jesus accomplished on Good Friday and rose to proclaim on Easter morning, that's not where we live.

Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.

   Because He lives, we will step out this perishable body into an imperishable one.

      Because He lives in us, we can love like He loves.

Despite the haters.

I pray that time hasn't dimmed what Good Friday accomplished.

The same power that conquered the grave lives in you.

"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:
'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'” 1 Corinthians 15:54

What hope does that bring to you today?
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