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b'(Is.52:13-53:12;\\xa0\\xa0 Ps.31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25,Lk.23:46;\\xa0\\xa0 Heb.4:14-16,5:7-9;\\xa0\\xa0 Jn.18:1-19:42) \\xa0 \\u201cHe shall be raised high and greatly exalted.\\u201d \\xa0 Here is your king: \\u201cJesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews,\\u201d Pilate has written upon His cross.\\xa0 Here He is lifted up, where \\u201cmany were amazed at Him \\u2013 so marred was His look beyond human semblance and His appearance beyond the sons of man.\\u201d\\xa0 Yet \\u201cshall He startle many nations; because of Him kings shall stand speechless.\\u201d\\xa0 The Scripture passage is fulfilled: \\u201cThey will look upon Him whom they have pierced.\\u201d\\xa0 And there they shall see that He who \\u201cwas spurned and avoided by people\\u2026 one of those from whom people hide their faces,\\u201d held in \\u201cno esteem\\u201d as He was\\u2026 this same \\u201clamb led to the slaughter\\u201d \\u201cshall divide the spoils with the mighty\\u201d; for as He has been lifted up on the cross, debased beyond all others, so He shall be raised on high in His kingdom, one with the Father in heaven.\\xa0 Here they \\u201cwove a crown out of thorns and placed it on His head.\\u201d\\xa0 Here they \\u201cclothed Him in a purple cloak, and they came to Him and said, \\u2018Hail, King of the Jews.\\u2019\\xa0 And they struck Him repeatedly.\\u201d\\xa0 But there no mockery shall He know; there all shall see that He is the Son of God. Brothers and sisters, \\u201cwe have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.\\u201d\\xa0 Our weaknesses He has known in full, and now He brings us \\u201clight in fullness of days.\\u201d\\xa0 Though on earth \\u201cHe offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears,\\u201d now has He become \\u201cthe source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.\\u201d\\xa0 For all the tears He shed, all the scourging He underwent, all the humiliation He experienced and the death He knew, were all for our sake.\\xa0 \\u201cIt was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured.\\u201d\\xa0 And having suffered in our stead for the sins of those by whom He is condemned, now He has come unto what is His own, and invites us there as well. \\u201cHe shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.\\u201d\\xa0 The guilt of the nations is removed by Him who had \\u201cno guilt in Him,\\u201d and is known by all who \\u201ctake refuge\\u201d in His wounds.\\xa0 And so, \\u201ctake courage and be stouthearted, all you who hope in the Lord\\u201d; though we, too, may be \\u201can object of reproach\\u201d in this world of sin, He awaits us all in His heavenly kingdom.\\xa0 And for this we call this Friday \\u201cgood.\\u201d \\xa0 Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. \\xa0 Music: "My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?" (second half) from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, on this day we killed your only Son \\u2013 may we look upon Him whom we have pierced that our sins might be forgiven.\\xa0 YHWH, your Son suffers a violent death at the hands of wicked men that our sins might be taken away.\\xa0 All our offenses you lay upon His shoulders, and this innocent Lamb becomes expiation for our transgression.\\xa0 Only by His bearing the Cross will we be freed; only by His shedding of blood will we be washed clean \\u2013 only by looking upon Him lifted high on the Tree will we come to realize how we have separated ourselves from you who are Life, how we have wrought our own death. And so Jesus takes upon Himself the guilt of us all; and so by His stripes we are healed.\\xa0 This broken, beaten Man whose divinity none can see startles all souls as He enters into His glory.\\xa0 O LORD, may we take our refuge in Him! There is no salvation apart from the Christ; there is no sacrifice that could atone for our sins except that made by this High Priest.\\xa0 LORD our God, let us know that He is One with you, and let us worship Him as our only King.'