Today’s narrative is about to take a turn for the worse. Today we will see our Lord and Savior go through the darkest day known to man. To prepare your heart, please spend some time listening to the following songs. Pray, worship, and think about what this week has meant to and for you. Spend some time giving thanks to God for sending His son, and for Jesus being willing to lay His life down for you.
Death was Arrested – North Pointe Worship
Man of Sorrows – Hillsong
Good Friday. So many questions of why we would think to call it Good Friday. Black Friday seems more appropriate, but I guess that name has already been claimed. I am sure if you would have asked Jesus’ mother, Mary, and His disciples they would have told you there is nothing good about the day Jesus went to the cross. But their opinion would soon change.
After a night full of trials, accusations, and beatings the religious leaders took Jesus to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was unable to find fault with Jesus. The crowd would not accept that there was no fault to be found. Since Jesus was a Galilean, Pilate decided to send him to Herod Antipas – who happened to be in Jerusalem – because Galilee was under his jurisdiction. Herod was excited to see Jesus, hoping that He would perform a miracle during their time together. During this trial, Jesus refused to answer question after question. The religious leaders were not short for words, they continuously threw accusations at Jesus. Eventually Herod and his soldiers began mocking Jesus and put a royal robe on Him and sent Him back to Pilate.
Pilate tried to compromise with the crowd. He found no fault with Jesus, seeing no reason to commit him to be crucified. He told the crowd they would only flog Jesus and then release Him. The crowd would only shout louder, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate told them that neither he nor Herod could find fault in Jesus. The answer from the crowd was the same, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”. The crowd demanded that Pilate release the prisoner, Barabbas, and have Jesus crucified in his place. To pacify the crowd, Pilate ordered Jesus to be beaten with a Cat of Nine Tails and then released Him over to the soldiers to be crucified. The soldiers placed a purple robe and a crown woven from a branch thick with thorns was placed on His head. They began to mock Him saying, “All Hail the King of the Jews”, all while spitting on Him, beating Him with rods, bowing before Him in mock reverence. Once they grew tired of this, they put His regular clothes on Him, assigned Him a cross, and led Him off to be crucified. On the way to Golgotha, a man named Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry Jesus’ cross, when He was no longer able to continue. Once at Golgotha, the soldiers offered Jesus wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused. The soldiers then nailed Jesus to the cross. They divided His clothes and cast lots to decide who would be rewarded with His clothing. They nailed a sign above Him saying “King of the Jews”. Two criminals were crucified and hung on crosses next to Jesus. All while people continuously shouted at Jesus, throwing His own words at Him. “You said you would destroy the Temple and rebuild in three days!” “You say you’re the Messiah, save yourself and come down from the cross!” “Look, He saved others, but He can’t even save Himself!” Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus was nailed to the cross around 9:00 AM. Around noon, darkness fell over the land. Around 3:00 PM Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “ Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Then to fulfill scripture He said, “I am thirsty”. They soaked a sponge in sour wine ,put it on a hyssop branch and held it up to His lips. Jesus then in a loud voice cried, “Tetelestai” or “It is finished!”, and bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Immediately the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many Godly men and women who had died, were raised from the dead. A Roman Officer standing near Jesus, seeing how He died, exclaimed “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Since it was the day of preparation, they didn’t want to leave the bodies hanging there through the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate to break the legs of those hanging on the cross to quicken their deaths. Then they could take care of the bodies before the Sabbath. When it came time to break Jesus’ legs, they realized He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side and blood and water flowed. This fulfilled the scriptures saying “Not one of His bones will be broken”, and “They will look on the one they pierced”.
Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body and prepare Him for burial. They wrapped Jesus’ body with spices in long sheets of linen cloth. They laid Jesus in a new tomb near the place of His crucifixion. They then rolled a great stone across the entrance of the tomb.
Reading about the crucifixion story two thousand years after the event took place is that it is very difficult for us to empathize with it’s participants. From our point of view, we see the crowds as insanely fickle, the disciples as clueless, the members of the Sanhedrin evil, and even Pilate as corrupt.
These are all true things. No one is innocent on this day, except Jesus. But it’s these very people – fickle, clueless, evil, corrupt – that Jesus died to offer salvation.
The truth is, we have a lot in common with the villains of Good Friday. The wonder is that Jesus loved them, and us, enough to submit to the foolishness, injustice, and death. It may seem like a dark day, but Sunday is on the way!