Many years ago, I left work early to donate blood at a local blood drive. I checked in and started filling out the form. When I handed the form back to the woman at the desk, she thanked me with a smile and said, “You picked a good day to give blood, it’s Good Friday!” That’s when I remembered joy and felt ashamed because I had been so busy that day that I had forgotten it was Good Friday.

Soon, they laid me on a table and pricked my arm so I could start donating a pint of blood. As I did this, I began thinking about how I was doing this to help save a life, while two thousand years ago, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, shed His blood to save all humanity. I remembered the words of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life,” and I started meditating on God’s incredible love for us. God could have easily abandoned us when Adam and Eve sinned and rejected Him, but He did not give up on humanity or us. God had a plan, and it was in His Son, Jesus. God came to earth in the form of a man as Jesus. He lived as one of us, endured everything it means to be human; he laughed, he cried, he experienced joy and pain, but he lived a perfect life without sin. He set an example for us on how to live for God, and he remained obedient to God, even to the point of death on a cross, where he shed his own blood to save us from our sins and give us eternal life with Him in heaven.

I began to think of the words of a favorite hymn, “Go to dark Gethsemane, You who feel the tempter’s power; Your Redeemer’s conflict see; Watch with Him one bitter hour; Turn not from His griefs away; Learn of Jesus Christ to pray. 2 Follow to the judgment hall; View the Lord of life arraigned; O the worm-wood and the gall! O, the pangs His soul sustained! Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; Learn of Him to bear the cross. 3 Calvary’s mournful mountain climb, There adoring at His feet, Mark the miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete: “It is finished!” Hear the cry; Learn of Jesus Christ to die. 4 Early hasten to the tomb Where they laid his breathless clay; All is solitude and gloom; Who hath taken Him away? Christ is risen! He meets our eyes: Savior, teach us so to rise.” Once I finished donating my pint of blood, I was ready to leave and looked forward to my church’s Good Friday service that evening.

So, for this Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, let us remember God’s great sacrifice for us and thank Him for it by giving our whole lives back to Him. “He gave His life, what else could He give? Oh, how He loves you and me!”

Take care,

Bill R