Through the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ,
He’s given us his life,
and we are more than conquerors.
We will stand, proclaiming liberty,
we’ll set the captives free.
There’s nothing we can’t do
through the blood.

When I was a child,
I was taught what most of us were taught.
We were taught that Good Friday was a day of great sadness,
a day when we should feel sorry for our sins
and seek God’s mercy for what we did
that led to the passion and death of his Son, Jesus Christ.
It was certainly not to be a day of gladness and rejoicing.

Yet over the years,
I have wondered what God makes of all this.
God sent his Son precisely for this day.
It was on this day that our sins were forgiven
and we were reconciled with God
once and for all times.

While there is sadness in reflecting on
all that Jesus endured that day,
there might also be some joy
as we realize why he did it for us.

Through the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ,
He’s given us his life.

He gave his life for our salvation,
that we might be, like Him, united to the Father.
He died upon the cross,
to open for us all the gates of heaven.
He died so that we might live,
and not just here on earth,
and not just for a time,
but for all eternity.

Isaiah said it so wonderfully,
“Through his suffering, [He] shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear…
because he surrendered himself to death…
he shall take away the sins of many
and win pardon for their offenses.”

Through the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ,
He’s given us his life.

The letter to the Hebrews today reminds us
that “we have a great high priest
who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,”
and that through his sufferings,
“he was made perfect,”
and “he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him.”

In a few minutes,
we will be invited forward
to venerate the cross,
“to approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy
and to find grace for timely help.”

This is “the wood of the cross,
on which hung the salvation of the world.”
It is no longer a symbol of death,
and instrument of torture.
It has become the sign of our salvation,
a sign of God’s great love for us.
“For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish
but might have eternal life.”

The cross for us has become a sign of victory,
a sign that we have been saved
and sent to do great things.
The cross reminds us
that “The Spirit of God is upon [us]
because he has anointed [us] to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent [us] to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

That is Good News today,
and we ought to find joy in it.

Through the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ,
He’s given us his life,
and we are more than conquerors.
We will stand, proclaiming liberty,
we’ll set the captives free.
There’s nothing we can’t do
through the blood.