ROOTED - Friday, April 3, 2026
Isaiah 53:3-5
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Reflection: Good Friday
Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro
Friday represents a seismic shift. For all of
human history people lived with the great weight of guilt, sin, and judgment.
The sacrificial system of the Old Covenant was the best thing mankind had… gallons
of blood shed every year… thousands of gallons of blood from thousands of
animals. These sacrifices of bulls and goats were constant reminders that we
could never get ahead. Mankind would always be contending with the consequences
of our own sinfulness. The suffering of animals dying for us in sacrifice was a
constant image of a broken and sad world. Sin and suffering were an
ever-present reality.
Then Jesus became our once and for all sacrifice… our Passover
Lamb. We despised him and killed him… but he went to the cross willingly. He
took our place, bearing our sin and our suffering. All of our sin was placed
on him and the crushing weight of it, he bore. For our sin he was pierced,
brutally, so that we might have peace and be healed. In the history of the cosmos,
this day was the single most important. It changed everything, forever. Now we are
able to exchange death for life, blindness for sight. We might now have peace
with God, owing to his death on the cross. We ought not take lightly the
significance of this Friday. It is a Good Friday.
Lord, you died for us on Good Friday, and today we thank you that,
though we don’t love you as we should, you love us with unfailing love, even to
the point of death on a cross.