Good Friday

I’ve been reading a really good biography of the life of Martin Luther — and there’s a lot of amazing and wise things that he wrote and preached in his lifetime, especially when he spoke to others who were facing death. I was reading one thing he said to comfort a believer on his deathbed; it stood out to me and I wanted to write a little bit about it.

He starts to remind this man of who God is. Not a tyrant, holding offenses against him, reminding him of failures. He had sent Jesus to free him and die for his sins, and because of that, he belonged to Jesus. What others said, people who mocked Christ, their words were empty. They were partnering with the devil, and already were on his side. But we, the people in Christ, are his enemies, and he wants us to be unsettled and afraid. He uses the small things to hurt us, until he gets at “our substance”.

But Luther says this man can resist the devil because he was in Christ, and Jesus was stronger than he who is in the world.

I found it very powerful and it resounded with me, since today is the day that Jesus freed us, and made sure that our sin and sickness, and the voices and thoughts of anxiety and accusation, that all of died. And the devil might desire to unsettle us, but he has no power or authority over us, because of what Jesus did on Good Friday.