copied from http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Articles-on-Christian-Science/2011/0422/Good-Friday-a-time-of-trust-and-blessing
I just really liked this, thought it was worth reposting, and is something I will want to keep to reflect back on this time of year in other years
Good Friday: a time of trust and blessing
I don’t know about you, but if I knew someone was planning to betray me and that others planned to murder me – and soon – I’d be inclined to get out of town by the fastest possible means. On the day that has since been designated Good Friday, Christ Jesus knew that betrayal and death were coming his way.
But he didn’t run out of town. Instead, he went to the garden of Gethsemane and prayed. In doing this, he was presenting a totally different model for human life and hopes. His model is described in this passage from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ prayer that night: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (26:39).
Jesus had spent three years healing people with all kinds of diseases and verbally sparring with Jewish officials who didn’t especially appreciate his ministry. He had even raised people from death. Now he was facing the final examination of all he had stood for and all that he wanted humanity to perceive about God’s love and power. The crucifixion at first looked as if he had failed. Many of his disciples were terrified and went into hiding.
But hatred symbolized by the crucifixion didn’t have the final word.
Buried by grieving followers, Jesus was free of the tomb three days later.
This is a message that bears repeating in a world where sorrow, sickness, dishonesty, and hatred seem to have full sway in so many places. So often Good Friday is seen as a day commemorating sorrow only. But there is a profound reason for remembering its spiritual message of ultimate hope.
Through his willingness to yield his own will to the will of God, which is always good, Jesus shined a light on the divine power and authority he had already proved in his healing work. He was ready to stake his life on God’s ability to save. Despite the hate that was directed at him so much of the time, and despite any fear he may have felt as the hour of reckoning drew nearer, he was ready to prove that Love was the master of hate. And his success showed that trust in God’s goodness, in the inevitable triumph of divine law, was not in vain.
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