Most of you are probably not aware of the fact that in sign language used by the deaf, the sign to indicate the person of Jesus Christ is made by pointing to the palm of the hands. Imagine that! How appropriate! Isn’t it interesting that of all the signs that could have been chosen for Jesus, they chose the nail prints to symbolize who he was?

We call ourselves "Easter Christians" and "Resurrection Christians", which is true, but we must be very aware that there can be no Easter, no Resurrection and no New Life, except by way of the cross.

If we really want to get close to Jesus; to know who he was and what he was about, then we can only do it through his crucifixion.

Jesus has made it perfectly and unmistakably clear that if we want to identify ourselves with him and make his life a model for our own, than we must be ready and willing to accept suffering, pain, and even death, for the sake of others.

This is not an easy message to hear or take to heart. It is much easier us to focus on the Resurrection, but this is what it really means to belong to Christ. It means that we must adopt a life style, in which we care about others so much, that we are willing to sacrifice on their behalf, to give ourselves on their behalf. The gospel says, "There is no greater love than this: To lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

God the Father, who sent Jesus to us as the Lord of Life, works through a process of death/resurrection. It is the way God has chosen to bring new life into the world. Jesus tried to explain this to his disciples and to help them understand that out of his death would emerge new life. And so he said to them: "I tell you solemnly that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest."

We can find no greater proof of God’s love for us than the willing sacrifice of his Son on the cross. Jesus’ last words were, "It is finished." But His words expressed triumph, rather than defeat. At that moment Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit fully knowing that the strife was now over and the battle won. Even as he hung upon the cross Jesus knew the joy of victory, for what the Father had sent him into the world to do had been accomplished. (Jesus) "Christ offered himself without blemish to God" and thereby, "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

It is in the cross of Christ that we see the triumph of Jesus over his enemies of sin, Satan and death. The cross is the sign of God’s mercy and the proof of His forgiveness. By his cross Jesus has redeemed our sin and atoned for our punishment. Jesus suffered our suffering. The suffering and death of Jesus is God’s way of entering into our suffering and death. Today we commemorate how the suffering of Jesus was that of a "servant," for it was through what he endured that he was set free from the power of our sin, the devastation of death. "By his stripes we were healed."

Today is called "Good Friday" because on this day we remember how much God really loves us. On this day we celebrate the passion of Jesus for us, and are reminded that the only way to Easter and the Resurrection, the way to peace, joy and righteousness in the kingdom of God, and the way to victory over sin, despair, and death, is only through the cross of Jesus Christ.

As we gaze up and "behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the savior of the world," we would do well to ask ourselves the question: are we willing to follow Jesus in his way of the cross with joy, hope and confidence?

Hopefully our response might in some manner echo the words of St. Paul the Apostle when he proclaimed, "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."