Father, did he have to die?  He was our friend, did he have to die?

We all knew him, we loved him, he was one of us.  It's so unfair that he should die when he didn't do anything wrong.

Father, how cruel a Father you seem to be, to let your own Son be punished to death, for someone else's sin.  Were the things we've done so bad?

We all knew him as a baby, he captured our hearts, so innocent and helpless and born in such humble surroundings.  How was I to know that when I left innocence behind for the sophistication of the world, when I cheated on my love, that it would be him who would be found guilty for me.

We all watched him grow and were amazed by his obedience.  How were we to know that when we disobeyed our parents and when we broke the law, that it would be him who would be accused of breaking the law and punished in our place.

We watched him teach us and his words were the light of truth.  How were we to know that when we turned from the light and told a lie, when we spread gossip about our friends, that it would be him who taken in the darkness and condemned with lies.

We all heard him defend the helpless and the outcasts, but Father, how could we see that when we made fun of others who are different, the stranger, the beggar, the disadvantaged, that it would be him who was jeered at, spit at, and insulted by the mob.

He gave us all hope that you would love us Father, no matter what we did, but when we turned our back on the ones we love and hurt them, when we ignore the poor and abandon the homeless, we didn't realize that it would be him who was left so alone and feeling so totally abandoned in his hour of need on the cross.

But finally we knew he was yours when he raised Lazarus from the dead and gave us his own body and blood as a gift forever, but did we know that when we have hurt and killed and tormented each other, that it would be his life that would be taken away.

Father, we see now, that it was not your cruelty, but our sin that tortured and killed your son.  Every lie a thorn, every theft a lash, every hurt a nail.  Father, we know you loved your Son, forgive us.

He was our friend, he loved us, and as we look upon his death we are covered with shame.

Yet even now, though he is gone, we can feel his hand round our shoulders, lifting us up, filling our hearts with your spirit to see that our shame has been taken away, our debt has been paid with the only price that was possible, and he is not gone, he lives forever.  You are with us Lord and we are clean.

Though we have had to suffer the terrible memory of that shame when we relive your death, we are renewed with hope that death has no hold on us because you have broken that bond.  We are free from the pain of death and you have showed us how to live in freedom from sin.

Father, you have turned our sorrow into joy, we understand now that for us to live forever with you, he did have to die.

- Deacon Steve