It was Good Friday some years ago. I was in the car on my way to take part in the Three Hours Devotion at Glasgow Cathedral. On the radio there was a special meditation for Good Friday, an angel’s perspective on the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. When it came to Jesus’ death she said that this was the saddest day of all for the angels not just because of Jesus’ agony and death but because from that day He would always be closer to human beings than to them.
I have never discovered who wrote this piece but it’s one of those things that seem to have taken root in my mind. There is truth in this. If anything shows that God is on our side then it is the crucifixion of Jesus. You would never expect there to be a message from God in the spectacle of His Son slowly dying in agony and yet in the end this was the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us. In this there there was an assurance that there is no suffering we go through that He has not experienced. He is eternally connected to our pain, mental and physical, even our spiritual pain. Surely there is no more gut-wrenching moment in the entire literature of the world when Jesus cries: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?‘ There was disturbance in the Godhead in that moment. Jesus experiencing the loss of God.
Then there is the death itself. Charles Wesley’s hymn says: ‘This mystery all! The Immortal dies.‘ Jesus actually died. Luke highlights this:
‘Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.’ (Luke 23: 46)
It’s customary in some Christian traditions that when this is read in worship there is a pause for a moment of silence. The only reasonable response to deep mystery.
So with this divine identification with the human condition we can understand if there was sadness among the angels. The Son is now closer to us. But I would want to take this further. Surely the sadness would give way to celebration when the angels grasped the meaning of His death. In his teaching in Luke 15 Jesus repeatedly makes the point that there is rejoicing in heaven ‘in the presence of the angels of God’ over one sinner who repents. The angels don’t seem to have any problem with the population of the Kingdom being increased as hearts are turned to God. It is Jesus’ death that makes this possible for men and women now:
‘He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven
Saved by His precious blood.’
Again turning to Luke, he tells us that one of the criminals crucified with Jesus turned to him with the plea:
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’
And Jesus reply:
‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’ (Luke 23: 42-43)
That is the promise for all those who are drawn to Calvary, the place where a fundamental change is made to human existence. There we learn that God is with us in darkness as well as light, pain as well as pleasure, failure as well as achievement. There we learn that God has made provision for the darkness in our inner being to be dispelled. There we learn that through the death of His Son He draws us nearer to Himself and by His grace makes us fit for His Kingdom.
‘This the power of the Cross.
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the Cross.’
