There was a man who was born under intriguing circumstances and for most of his years lived a common life with uncommon insight and passion. Then he began more widely sharing his teaching with anyone who would listen. Word spread, and people began traveling for miles just in order to hear what he had to say. Some of them did so simply so they could say they’d seen the current newsmaker. Some of them were more than curious, and followed him from place to place. For more than a few it got to be too much and they returned home to the comfortable and familiar. There were those, however, who took his words to heart. Those lives, the lives of those who took his words to heart, were changed whether they tramped up and down a few miles of the middle east with him; or lived out their lives in cities or towns or the countryside; or became international travelers.

And then there were those who heard him and hated him. They didn’t just hate his teaching. They hated him. They hated him enough to put him through a mockery of a trial and crucify him. They hated him enough to hunt down people who had followed him and continued to share about him even after he’d been killed, in part, as a result of mob hysteria and a powerful nation. Curious, isn’t it, how hate can travel not just miles but years?

But the truth remains: He died for you. For your redemption from the horrors of hell. For your free welcome to heaven. Your choice.

This Friday is Good Friday, the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion. And Sunday? Maybe you can look that one up yourself.

Image: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. By AntanO (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACross_in_sunset.jpg