The Truth about Everything: Death on a Friday Afternoon

Breakpoint with Charles Colson ^ | March 24, 2005 | Charles Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

Easter for many of us is a day of family gatherings and a celebration, not only of Christ’s resurrection, but also the coming of spring. In this week before Easter, though, let’s not rush the celebration before coming face-to-face with the paradoxes that are at the heart of the Christian faith.

Those paradoxes are the subject of a wonderful book Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus by my friend Father Richard John Neuhaus.

A paradox, as G. K. Chesterton famously put it, is “Truth standing on her head to get attention.” Our aversion and resistance to the truth is so strong that God often finds it necessary to employ extreme measures to get us to see past the lies we’ve embraced.

Never was this truer than on what Christians call “Good Friday.” As Neuhaus writes, “If what Christians say about Good Friday is true, then it is, quite simply, the truth about everything.” That “everything” starts with telling the truth about the human condition. How? By paradoxically punishing the offended party, instead of the guilty.

As Neuhaus tells us, we are all aware that “something has gone terribly wrong with the world, and with us in the world.” It is not just history’s best-known list of horribles. It’s also “the habits of compromise . . . loves betrayed . . . lies excused . . . ”

Yet, instead of acknowledging our complicity in the world’s evil, we minimize our own faults and regard our sins as “small.” Good Friday puts the lie to that claim. If the Son of God had to suffer such a horrible death, then our sins cannot have been “small.”

The Cross reminds us that “our lives are measured,” not by us or by our peers, but “by whom we are created and called to be, and the measuring is done by the One who creates and calls.” Instead of glossing over our sin with an understanding nod, the Cross renders “the verdict on the gravity of our sin.”

Our unwillingness to see our sins as they really are, as God sees them, leads us to embrace another falsehood: that is, that we can make things right. Even though our culture is, in many respects, post-Christian, it still clings to the idea of redemption. However, just as with our ideas about sin and guilt, our ideas about redemption are pitiful and impoverished.

On Good Friday, God made it clear “that we are incapable of setting things right.” He made it clear by taking our place. On the Cross, “the Judge of the guilty is Himself judged guilty.” This is, of course, the great scandal, one that paradoxically points to the great truth at the heart of Good Friday: We are powerless to set things right, and only God, the offended party, could undo the mess we created.

The Cross—God’s way of bearing witness to the truth about our condition—is as offensive today as it was two thousand years ago. Now, as then, we insist on misinterpreting the events of that Friday afternoon, but to no avail. Our sin has been judged, and God Himself bore the punishment. And that is the truth about everything.

[Mr. Silverback]

Jesus prayed in the garden
And poured out His heart for me
There has been no love shown by mortals as in dark Gethsemane
He could have chosen not to suffer
Treatment of the cruelest kind
But the lips of my pure Savior uttered, "Not my will but thine.

Jesus prayed in the garden, He prayed oh
Jesus prayed in the garden, He prayed oh

Let me tell you what He went through
You know He really didn't have to
He could have easily just walked away
But He said,
"Not my will but thine.
Not my will but thine."

They cheated Him and they beat Him
They mocked Him - they scourged Him
The people kept a cryin'
We've got to crucify Him
Crucify Him, crucify Him
He said,
"Not my will but thine."

Well they hung Him there in anger searchin' for some relief
They nailed Him there in public right between the two thieves
He tasted human torture of the cruelest kind
"Not my will but thine.
Not my will but thine."

Jesus died on Calvary, He died Oh
Jesus died on Calvary, He died Oh

Some were laughin' some were cryin' some were happy at His dyin'
I don't see, I can't see how could this ever be?
Poor Jesus as He hung on the tree He said,
"Not my will but thine.
Not my will but thine."

Can't you see him; can't you see Him hanging there
Suffering Savior, but He said,
"Not my will but thine."
You know, He said,
"Not my will but thine."
--"Not My Will, But Thine" sung by Acapella

O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!

What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.
--"O Sacred head Now Wounded," Lyrics by Anonymous, Music by Hans L. Hassler and J.S. Bach

Hear the bells ringing,
They're singing that you can be born again,
Hear the bells ringing,
They're singing Christ is risen from the dead.

The angel up on the tombstone,
Said "He has risen, just as He said,
Quickly now, go tell His disciples,
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead."

Joy to the world!
He has risen, hallelujah,
He's risen, hallelujah,
He's risen, hallelujah.
Hallelujah!
--"The Easter Song" by Keith Green

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[Mr. Silverback]

BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[mountaineer]

Annie Herring wrote "Easter Song," but if you want to post "There is a Redeemer," by Keith's widow, Melody, that's fine!

[Jaded]

Awesome and true!

[Esther Ruth]

My Favorite

I serve a risen Saviour, He's in the world today;
I know that He is living whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And tho' my heart grows weary I never will despair;
I know that He is leading thro' all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing will come at last.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King!
The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find,
None other is so loving, so good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

[Mr. Silverback]

Yeah, it was a hard lyric to find, and I got my sourcing confused. So yes, written by Herring and first recorded by The Second Chapter of Acts.

And Accapella's version of it is just outstanding...

[Mr. Silverback]

This one?

There is a redeemer,
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One,

Jesus my redeemer,
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

When I stand in Glory,
I will see His face,
And there I'll serve my King forever,
In that Holy Place.

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

There is a redeemer,
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One,

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

And leaving Your Spirit,
'Till the work on Earth is done.

[Mr. Silverback]

One of my favorites, too. Here's another:

If there were no God there would be no music
There would be no dream to be dreaming of
What a dreadful thought of an empty future
If there were no God there would be no love

If there were no God there would be no children
There would be no joy to relieve our tears
Not a tender hand to provide us comfort
No consoling heart to subdue our fears

But we know that God is with us
And we know His majesty
Reigning now, the King eternal
Yes we know the victory

If there were no God there would be no sunshine
There would be no rain to refresh the earth
There would be no jewels to display their value
There would be no thought of enduring words

If there were no God there'd be no creation
There would be no light there would be no breath
No surpassing joy nothing in existence
If there were no God all would be death

But we know that God is with us
And we know His majesty
Reigning now, the King eternal
Yes we know the victory

[mountaineer]

That's it.

[Mr. Silverback]

"Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away
Because of Me"

As he sat there in that prison cell, he knew just how it came about
And he knew his life was over and he was never comin' out
But there was just one thing he had to know, he had to make a final plea
So he sent his friends to ask the Lord if he was who He claimed to be


"Go tell John
That the lame have learned to walk
That the poor can hear the word of God and the deaf can hear Me talk
Go tell John
That the blind can finally see, oh and
Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away because of Me"

He was born so he could tell the world that the Kingdom was at hand
And that the Christ would soon come after him to complete the Father's plan
And there was nothing else he wanted more than to see this Kingdom grow
It was the only thing that mattered, it was all he had to know


"So go tell John
That the lame have learned to walk
That the poor can hear the word of God and the deaf can hear Me talk
Go tell John
That the blind can finally see, oh and
Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away because of Me"

Well he gave his life to testify that Jesus was the Son
He only wanted now to know that it was a good thing he had done
Soon he would be murdered by a wicked, evil man
But I'm sure the words of Jesus helped him understand

"Go tell John
That the dead are raised again
Go tell John, tell John
That the lepers now are cleansed
Go tell John
That the path he chose was right
Go tell John
Go and tell him that I truly am the Light"

[NYer]

"It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your king!" They cried out, "Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle." (John 19:14-18).

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[mountaineer]

Also recorded by Keith Green but written by Jamie Owens Collins:

"The Victor"

Swallowed into earth's dark womb
And death has triumphed
That's what they say
But tried to hold Him in the tomb
The Son of Life
Rose on the third day

Just look
The gates of hell
They're falling
Crumbling from the inside out
He's bursting through
The walls with laughter (Hah!)
Listen to the Angels shout

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

His plan of battle
You know it
He fooled them all
They led Him off to prison to die
But as He entered Hades Hall
He broke those hellish chains with a cry

Just listen to those demons screaming
See Him bruise the serpent's head
The prisoners of Hell
He's redeeming (Oh!)
All the power of death is dead

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

Just look
The gates of hell they're falling
Crumbling from the inside out
He's bursting through the walls with laughter (Hah!)
Listen to the Angels shout
(Listen, oh, listen)

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

[reagan_fanatic]

Thank You Jesus for providing a light in a very dark World.

You are my Savior, and my gratitude is yours.

[AnAmericanMother]

Friday Morning
Sydney Carter

It was on a Friday morning
That they took me from the cell,
And I saw they had a carpenter
To crucify as well.
You can blame it on to Pilate
You can blame it on the Jews
You can blame it on the Devil,
It's God I accuse.

Chorus
It's God they ought to crucify
Instead of you and me.
I said to the carpenter
A-hanging on the tree.

You can blame it on to Adam
You can blame it on to Eve
You can blame it on the Apple,
But that I can't believe.
It was God who made the Devil
And the Woman and the Man,
And there wouldn't be an Apple
If it wasn't in the plan.

Chorus

Now Barabbas was a killer
And they let Barabbas go.
But you are being crucified
For nothing that I know.
And your God is in his heaven
And he doesn't do a thing
With a million angels watching,
And they never move a wing.

Chorus

To hell with Jehovah
To the carpenter I said,
I wish that a carpenter
Had made the world instead.
Goodbye and good luck to you
And if our ways divide
Remember me tomorrow
The man you hung beside.

Chorus

[Aquinasfan]

If Terri dies on Good Friday, we can consider it a warning.

[ladyL]

I write this with the utmost respect and sadness for my Christian brothers and sisters who are responding to an article that purports to uphold the Truth yet fails miserably in a most devious way. For hundreds of years, we in the church have been deceived by the Good Friday/Easter/Lent celebration. Today our Heavenly Father has enlightened and released the truth on Easter for his children to know and respond to. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have responded yet this lie still persists, robbing God's children of His Truth.

If you will look up in any Encyclopedia or Dictionary you will find that Easter is the pagan worship day of Ishtar, the pagan goddess of fertility. Constantine, at the Council of Nicea brought into the church this pagan worship day to keep the pagans in the church happy. We believers today, unfortunately are still victims of this blasphemy.

I urge all my brothers and sisters to do a study on what I am sharing. It is the truth. Good Friday in no way lines up with our Savior's words, no greater more authoritative words ever. Jesus said I give you ONE SIGN that I am the Messiah. ONE SIGN!!!!! (Mat 12:40 KJV) For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

FRIDAY NIGHT, SATURDAY NIGHT TWO NIGHTS!!!! Did Jesus lie or has man done evil.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I love that song - thank you for posting it!

[TruthConquers]

That is my favorite song. I just love it!

[wizr]

Been a long time since I heard those words. The church we go to now does newer hymns.

I was wonderful to read. I could here the choir singing as I followed along.

[Esther Ruth]

This is another beautiful one...such a beautiful melody, we sing the old songs where we go to church, I love them...


One day when heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men, my Example is He!


Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming; O glorious day!


One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!


Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming; O glorious day!


One day they left Him alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o'er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!


Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming; O glorious day!


One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!


Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming; O glorious day!


One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
One day the skies with His glories will shine;
Wonderful day, my belov'd ones bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!


Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming; O glorious day!