Where Do You Stand? (Friday Devotional)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

- Romans 1:16

With good reason, most of the attention on Good Friday goes to Jesus—his seven sayings from the cross, his grace in the midst of suffering, and ultimately his atoning death. In a way unique to the occasion, we fix our eyes on Jesus with renewed focus today. But as you do so, widen your lens enough to take in the bystanders to the cross, the other actors in the drama of the cross.

On the one hand, you have the crowd, those who shouted, “Crucify him!” and willingly gave the dangerous Barabbas freedom to ensure Jesus would lose his. The crowd mocked Jesus, spat on him, and rejoiced at his death. Feeling betrayed by Jesus, they violently rejected him.

Away from Golgotha, you have the twelve disciples. One, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus outright, turning him over to those who wanted him dead. Another, Simon Peter, the ostensible leader of the group, refused to acknowledge any association with Jesus when asked—three times he denied the man he’d called Lord. As for the rest of the disciples, every one had fled when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, taking off into the night instead of taking up their cross. Feeling uncertain about Jesus, they abandoned him.

And finally, at the foot of the cross, you have the women: Mary Magdalene, Jesus’s mother, another woman named Mary, Salome, and others whom Scripture leaves unnamed. Where all other Christ-followers had given up on Jesus, these women stayed near him to the end and then beyond, with several accompanying his body to the tomb and then becoming the first to find that tomb empty on Sunday morning.  Feeling loved by Jesus, they humbly remained with him.

More than 2,000 years after the crucifixion, the three responses to Jesus and his gospel still resonate. Today there are still those who prefer mockery to grace, who believe that worldly power is worthier than sacrificial love. Like the crowd at Golgotha, they see little more than hypocrisy and unfulfilled promises in the gospel, and so they reject it. Similarly, there are those today who know and believe the gospel, but fall by the wayside when tested. Unwilling to stand with Christ, they follow the whims of the times, more concerned with what will keep them secure than with what will glorify God.

But praise God, there are also those today who stand with the women at the foot of the cross, refusing to leave the Lord even in the darkest of hours. Even when they are surrounded by detractors, they stand like fortresses in the storm as witnesses to the Word of God. Even when the Peters of the world shrink back when threatened, they remain by Jesus’s side. In the face of fear, doubt, and hatred, these faithful disciples stay true to a gospel of truth, righteousness, and love.

Today is a day to remember the sacrificial, atoning death of Jesus Christ and to praise God for the salvation He brings. But as you look to the cross, take a moment to look around it as well. Where are you standing?