So, can you remember yourself asking this question, “Why daddy…why?”  Just think back for a minute to those formative years of growing up when your world was chocked full of curiosity.  That time when you were poised at that beautiful point of innocence and just trying to figure things out.  Perhaps you were one to pepper your dad with the question of “why” over and over and over.  Like many, you most likely had a relentless need to know.  It was in the knowing that the dots of life began to connect for you and life in an elementary way began to start to make some sense.  Ultimately though this question of “why” would lead you to a greater understanding of the way all the pieces of life fit together and more importantly how you fit into the overall story being told through your life and the life of others around you.

Well, on this particular day I’d like for us to consider what is in essence the same question asked by another Son.  This time however the answer to the question would have radically profound, life-altering implications to a much larger story, the story of the redemption of man.  Hanging on the cross between two thieves was the Son of God.  Among the last words spoken by the Son that day was the question, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”  Or perhaps put in other more contemporary words from a son to a father, “Why daddy…why?” Why daddy do I have to be separated from you and die in order that others might live?  

This is the day that reveals to many that they cannot save themselves.  It is the day that takes us from living “under the law” in order that we might “really live” under grace because of this priceless expression of sacrifice.  This day, known to those who believe in the Son as Good Friday, is the day that answers the “why” of our salvation and squarely places us into the story of redemption.  And on this day set aside in redemptive history I want to encourage you to always remember “why.”  Unlike others this is one day you never want to forget.  By the way in case you’re still curious, the answer to the question “Why?” is simply found in knowing the “Who,” the “Who” of all eternity…Jesus.  Happy Easter!