A Day to Remember

I want to introduce you to a young Turkish woman. I will call her Emiri. It’s been years since she was pulled from a pile of debris left by an earthquake that ravaged her city. In the days and weeks to follow, she relived her entrapment and her rescue frequently. Certain sounds brought it to mind. Strangely, there were smells that stirred her memory. But that was years ago. 

While shopping at the market recently, she bumped into the man who pulled her from the rubble that day years ago. Actually, he bumped into her. He tapped her on the shoulder and called her by name. The reunion caught Emiri by surprise; she was glad to see him, but not to the degree you would imagine. In fact, when they went their separate ways, she was ashamed that she didn’t show more gratitude to this man who had saved her life.

That evening after Emiri tucked the children into their beds, she pulled a tattered shoebox down from a shelf in the closet. She nervously opened the box; it had been a while since she had looked through it. She took out a newspaper clipping. “Girl rescued after 2 days underneath the rubble,” the headline read. Emiri was that girl.

Sifting through her keepsakes made her heart race. She pulled a soiled remnant of cloth from the box. It was from the dress she was wearing when she was rescued. There was that smell again. That night all the memories of that life-altering event began to flood her mind. She wished she could see that man again just to properly thank him.

Emiri serves as a good example to us. You and I know about rescues. We too were rescued, not from a pile of rubble but from an enormous mountain of sin. We were trapped there, yet God, in His infinite mercy, came to our rescue. Good Friday reminds us of that.

Good Friday should flood us with memories of our rescue. The enormous price paid for our sins. Jesus and His unimaginable suffering on the cross.

But maybe you’re a bit like Emiri there in the market. You’re not as grateful as you know you should be. Perhaps life is a bit hectic for you right now, or this has been a hard year for you, and you’re not as thankful as you know you should be.

What do we do in times like that? Emiri opened a box; you and I open a Bible and take time to reflect on the One who was “pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities.” We spend time with God, pleading with Him to flood our hearts with the wondrous reality of what Jesus did on the cross for us. Surely, our Father will help to renew our hearts.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:3-6).