Today is Good Friday.  I have always wondered why they call it Good?  There was a huge influx of people coming for a celebration of a Jewish holiday; there was Pilot washing his hands of the entire mess; there was a three-ring-circus with people yelling "Crucify Him"; There was a mass of bodies pressing to get a good look at what was going on.

There were officials of the church yelling, "You saved others, why can't you save yourself!"  There were "lookie-loos" trying to get close enough to see what just happened-was there any blood!!  There were Roman soldiers nailing three men to wooden crosses.  There were people crying.  There were church officials yelling "Take down that sign over his head!!! He's not the King of the Jews."

It was a Free-For-All of mass proportions.  The followers of Jesus were weeping and broken hearted.  The Roman soldiers were rolling dice to see who was going to get his robe.  His followers thought that the end of all of their hopes for overtaking the Roman government had just vanished.  This wasn't how it was supposed to turn out. Why didn't Jesus perform a miracle? 

And there was Jesus.  Bloody, broken, hanging on a cross.  "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."  That's what He said.  In other words, "They don't know they are murdering the Messiah.  Give them another chance."

He came.  He lived a sinless life. He was an innocent man.  And in the hours that he suffered physical pain, the most horrible part was that all of my sin, all of your sin, all of the sin through the ages was laid on Him.  And God, who cannot look on sin turned His back.  Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me."

That is the loneliest moment ever endured by anyone.  Ever.  For you.  For me.