Remembering Good Friday

Remembering Good Friday

The last week of Jesus’ life was called the “Passion Week”, and that week takes up about 30% of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. As a matter of fact, in the gospel of John which has 21 chapters, the Passion Week actually starts right in the middle, at chapter 12.  God does not want us to think that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was just something that sort of happened at the end of his earthly life.  What took place on the cross on that last week is the central part of a central life which is the central point of the Bible.

This is a story about the worst day of human history.  A story about the creation’s killing of the Creator.  

This is the story of Good Friday.

It all began with one miracle of Christ.  It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Lazarus, who was one of Jesus’ best friend, had become ill and died.  And then after being dead for four days, Jesus came and raised Lazarus from the dead.  The raising of Lazarus was so dramatic that great crowds came from Jerusalem just to see Lazarus. 

The leaders of Israel said, “The whole world has gone after him!”  And they feared that the Romans will see this as a threat and send their soldiers to clamp down on the apparent unrest.

Caiaphas, the high priest said, “Do you not know that it is expedient for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish?” 

And from that time on, Israel’s leaders plotted to kill Him.  Jesus became an official enemy of the state.

On Sunday, Palm Sunday, Jesus, in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, entered Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey, a humble servant and king.  It was called the “Triumphal Entry”.  

The multitude removed their coats and laid them before him like a red carpet.  They cried, “Hosanna!”, which means, “Save us.  Rescue us.”  They believed that this Jesus, who could raise the dead, will deliver the nation of Israel from their Roman oppressors.

Jesus then entered the temple and saw them buying and selling animals, and exchanging money in the house of God. And taking a length of rope, he drove the animals from the temple, overturning the money-changers’ tables. 

The chief priests and the elders gathered around him and demanded, “By whose authority do you do these things?” 

His answer?  “My father’s house shall be a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it into a den of robbers.” 

For five days, Jesus would answer challenges and attempts to discredit him.  Daily he would come to the temple, and taught them about the kingdom of God, and he ended the week with a harsh denunciation of Israel’s leaders,

“Woe unto you, Pharisees, hypocrites, sons of serpents, white-washed tombs…,” and he prophesied that Jerusalem would soon become desolate and Israel would never see Him again until they cry out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

As Passover approaches, it became obvious that a betrayal was needed.  Jesus could not be arrested publicly, because a riot would occur amongst the common people, creating the very problem that Israel’s leadership was trying to avoid.  
But.., if someone from the inside, could find out where in Jerusalem Jesus would eat his Passover, and then inform the leaders, a private arrest could be arranged. 

Judas, the treasurer, was that man.  He looked for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to the chief priests.  Jesus, knowing this, circumvented Judas.  

When the question arose, “Where would we eat the Passover?”, and Judas was leaning closely listening for the place where they will be alone, Jesus simply said, “Two of you.  Go into the city.  You will find a man carrying a pitcher of water.  Follow him.  He will take you to a room upstairs which is fully furnished.  And there we shall eat the Passover.”  Thus, the disciples did not know where the room was until they got there.

And so they gathered together in the upper room for the Passover meal.  During the meal, Jesus said, “One of you who breaks bread with me will betray me”.  And then he said to Judas, “Whatever you are going to do, do it quickly.”  So, Judas arose and went out.

Then Jesus and His eleven disciples went over to the garden of Gethsemane, and there he submitted himself completely to the will of God, accepting the cross.  “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

Judas came back to the upper room with a band of soldiers.  Finding Jesus had left, he knew where he would be, where he had gone so many times with his disciples.  And he brought the soldiers to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus.

Jesus said to Judas, “Will you betray the Son of man with a kiss?”
In no way was Jesus surprised.

“Whom do you seek?” he asked the soldiers.

“Jesus, the Nazarene”, they answered.

“I am, who speaks to you,” Jesus said.

And at the sound of the divine Name, the soldiers just fell to the ground!

You take me only because I allowed you to take me.  Where I want to go, soldiers are not needed.  A little child could have led me to the cross.

Peter then rushed forward with his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  Jesus cried out, “Stop!  No more of this.”  And Jesus then performed the last miracle of his earthly life when he restored the servant’s ear. 

The plan of the Jewish leaders were simple.  But it was complex in the doing.  

Jesus must be found guilty of sedition.  Crime against Rome.  
He must be found guilty twice, with a day intervening the two trials, according to Jewish custom.  
But the trials must be late at night, and then early in the morning, so that the populace can remain sleeping, and they could not react and defend whom they thought was their deliverer.  

So, how do you betray a man, arrest him, try him illegally, twice, bring him before a Roman judge, press charges and indict him, and crucify him on a public cross, all before Jerusalem began to stir?

First, he was led to Annas, the godfather, the former high priest of Israel.  His conviction carries weight.  He asked Jesus about his teachings and his disciples.  Jesus said to him, “Ask those who heard me.  I did not teach anything in secret.”

One of the guards immediately struck Jesus on the mouth.  Annas had no more to say.  The trial had backfired. 

Jesus was immediately taken to Caiaphas and the awaiting Jewish council for His second trial.  False witnesses came forward but their lies contradicted each other.

One of them then said, “He said he would destroy the temple.”  Actually what Jesus said was, destroy his body, which is the temple, and he would raise it up in three days.  It was a mis-quote.  With no corroboration, there was no guilt to be implied. 

Caiaphas, the high priest, seeing he was losing the set, sought to win the match.  He arose and played his trump card, “Are you the Christ, the son of the living God?” 

Jesus replied, “I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God in power, and returning in the clouds of glory.” 

Caiaphas rent his clothes at this blasphemy.  “What further need have we for witnesses? We have heard it from his own mouth,” he said.  Jesus was found guilty not of crime against Rome but of crime against God, of blasphemy. 

The Sanhedrin then surrounded him, laid hands upon him, blindfolded him, and beat him, mocking him, saying, “Prophesy, O Christ.  Who hit you?”

They then placed him in Caiaphas’ dungeon to await the next day.   

Just before dawn, the Sanhedrin quickly assembled as Jerusalem slept. 

Again, the question was put to Jesus.  “Are you the Christ?”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not listen.  And if I ask you a question, you will not answer.  But from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power.”

This third trial was the shortest of all the trials. Jesus knew his death was sealed and pre-arranged.  Three times he has been tried, by Annas, Caiaphas & the Sanhedrin, and three times he has been found innocent of sedition.  And the multitude of them arose and they hastily led him to Pilate, the governor of Judea, who awaited to pass a pre-arranged judgement of crucifixion.

“What evil has he done?” said Pilate. 

The crowd replied, “If he was not an evil doer, we would not have delivered him up to you.” 

He said, “Then try him yourself according to your law.” 

They replied, “We are not allowed to put anyone to death.  Only Rome could formerly execute.” 

Then someone calls out, “He claims to be a king!” 

That, Pilate could not ignore.  He took Jesus into the ruler’s residence called the praetorium for a private audience.

“Are you a king?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.  I came to bear witness to the truth. Those of the truth hear my voice.”

Pilate saw that this has turned not into politics and law but into metaphysics and religion, and he simply dismissed him, “What is truth?”

He returned to the platform to the gathering crowd, and announced, “I find nothing in him worthy of death.”  
Meaning: Jesus may be a religious fanatic but he is not a threat.  Definitely not to Rome.

The crowd cries, “He stirs up the multitude all the way to Galilee.” 

Aha . . . , Pilate thought.  

Galilee.  

The ruler of Galilee, Herod, is in Jerusalem for the Passover feast.  If this man is from Galilee, then to Galilee’s leader he shall go.  And Pilate delightedly sent him away to Herod.

Four times Jesus has been tried.  Four times he has been found innocent.

Now, Herod has heard much about Jesus and merely wanted to see a miracle from him, but Jesus would not even speak to him.  He consigned Herod to his own darkness. Herod placed a purple robe on him and a reed in his hand and mocked him and sent him back to Pilate, finding no guilt in him.

Jesus has now been tried five times and found guilty of only claiming to be the Son of God, a confession that was not punishable by Roman law.

It is now about 7:00 am.  This is now taking much longer than planned.  The leaders feared a riot may ensue.  A crowd is gathering in an awakening Jerusalem.

Pilate announced that he and Herod have found Jesus not guilty concerning insurrection.  That he will have him released.  The crowd, however, cried for his execution. 

There was a custom to release a prisoner on Passover.  Pilate thought that if he were to put Barabbas, a convicted criminal and murderer, next to Jesus, and offered to release one of them, they would have no choice but to have Jesus released.

“Shall I release for you Jesus or Barabbas, who is a known insurrectionist?”  
And yet they cried out, “Give us Barabbas.  Away with this man!”

Pilate then tried another means of release.   He had Jesus scourged.

Man frequently die from scourging.  In Jewish law, a man can be beaten 39 times, no more than 40.  But these were Romans.  First they played what was called the game of the king, where the would-be messiah was surrounded blindfolded and beaten.  “Who beat you?  Who hit you?  Prophesy.”  And then his robe was removed.  And he was chained to a post where two lectors lashed him with a cat-of-nine-tails, leather straps embedded with bones and metal.  And then a crown of thorns was placed on his head. And a purple robe was laid over his wounds. 

And after the scourging, Pilate brought him out.  Isaiah prophesied that he was more disfigured than any man.  And he pronounced to the crowd, “Behold, the man.”  

Meaning: Look on him.  He is no threat.  He is nothing but a weak man. 

“Crucify him!” cried the crowd again.

Pilate said, “Take him yourself, for I find no guilt in him.” 

Then someone said, “We have a law.  And he ought to die because he made himself to be the son of God.” 

And now the truth was out.  This man claimed divinity.   We normally would think such a man mad.  But Pilate had never seen a man like this man.   He took Jesus back into the praetorium privately and looked at him, with his bleeding, wounded, nigh unto dead body.   And he asked him, “Where are you from?” 

Roman mythology spoke of God walking amongst men.   Pilate thought, am I trying Apollo?

Jesus was silent. 

Pilate said, “Don’t you know I have authority to release you or to crucify you?” 

Jesus said, “You have no authority unless it has been granted to you from above”.

And because of this answer, Pilate was more afraid and made efforts to release him to which the crowds call out, “Release this man and you are no friend of Caesar.” 

A friend of Caesar was a political inside position.  Pilate has to make a choice.  Do I do what is just?  Or do I do what is expedient for my career? 

He said to the crowd with contempt, “Behold your king.”  This was his crime.  Not sedition.  He was just a king you did not want.

“Away with him and crucify him!” 

“Shall I crucify your king?” 

“We have no king but Caesar.”

Suddenly a note from his wife was stuffed into Pilate’s hand. Pilate’s wife has had a nightmare.  The note read, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man.  I suffered much because of him.” 

That righteous man.  She and her husband knew already who he was.  Pilate knew he was being used as an executioner in a political setup. 

Pilate called for water and he washed his hands.  And he said, “Let it be known that I find no guilt in this man”, to which the nation responded with words that have echoed for 20 centuries.  “His blood be on us and our children.”  And thus he handed Jesus over to be crucified.

Six times tried.  
Six times found innocent.  
Guilty of being divine.

It is now 8:00 am and the march to Calvary began.  
Six trials will be followed by six hours of suffering.  
Three at the hands of man.  
Three at the hands of God.

Jesus is too weak to carry his cross.  His soul would bear the sins of the world but his body could not bear his cross.

A Jew from North Africa, Simon of Cyrene, was forced by the Roman guard to carry it.  

They arrived outside the city, on the hill of Calvary.  Criminals cannot die within the gates of Jerusalem.  They were considered unclean.  The book of Hebrews said he died outside the camp bearing our reproach.

They came to a hill called Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, or in Latin, it was called Calvary.  Myrrh is offered to Jesus as a type of sedative to make a man easier to handle at his time of execution.  Jesus refuses it.  He will offer no resistance. 

“The cup which the Father handed to me, shall I not drink it?” 

And he was crucified between two criminals.  Isaiah said, “he was numbered among the transgressors.”  And as the nails were being driven in, he utters the first of seven words from the cross.  It was a prayer of mercy for the Roman soldiers:  

“Father, forgive them.  They do not know what they do.”  

These Romans had no idea who he was.  Had they known, Paul said, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

A sign indicating his crime was placed above him, as was the custom.  The sign merely read,

Jesus of Nazareth.

King of the Jews.

And it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, because of the open and public place of his crucifixion.  Pilate ordered the sign as a testimony to Jesus’ innocence. 

It is about 9 am.  The soldiers beneath him divided his garments. His seamless robe cannot be torn so they cast lots for it.   Those who passed by, mocked him.  “You saved others.  You cannot save yourself.  Come down from the cross if you are the Christ.” 

Both thieves cursed him, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.” 

But Peter said, “while being reviled, he would not revile in return.”  While suffering, he uttered no threat. 

Then, one of the thieves, perceiving his character, hearing the mocking, seeing the signs of his innocence and his claim to messiah, knowing it is Passover when a lamb has to die, suddenly has his first light pierced onto his soul, and he cried to his partner, “Do you not fear God? We are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. This man, he has done nothing wrong.”

And then to Jesus, “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” 

This man understood that Jesus was the messiah, the King. 

He understood that he was not dying for himself; He has done nothing wrong. 

He understood that he dies for others. 

He offered to Christ only faith and repentance, when he said, “Jesus remember me.” 

Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” 

His faith saved him.

It is now 12 o’clock noon.  Jesus looks upon his mother.  The last thing a Jewish son did for his mother was to care for her. 

Jesus said, “Woman,” and then looking towards John, said, “Behold thy son.” 

“Son,” he said to John, and looking to Mary, “Behold thy mother.” 

And thus, he did his obligation to his mother as his last act of faithfulness.  Mary was told 33 years earlier by Simeon, “A sword shall pierce your soul.”  She wondered no more at those dark words.

And then the sky went dark in divine displeasure as the light of God’s countenance was turned away. 

A nation has committed its highest crime. 

A soul would receive its highest punishment. 

Here God would lay on him the iniquity of us all. 

Here he who knew no sin, would become sin. 

Here God caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him, we who have strayed like sheep. 

Here one dies, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. 

Here God gave his only begotten Son. 

For 3 hours from 12:00 to 3:00 he hangs in silence.  There is no record of Jesus saying anything.  

Like the Holy of Holies, we are forbidden access.

At 3:00 pm, a voice breaks through the darkness. 

“My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” 

It was not a question.  It was an announcement. 

He was forsaken of God but for no sin of his own. 

He died for sinners for whom the stroke was due. 

His tongue, cleaved to his mouth and so he said, “I thirst.”  And to his mouth was pressed a sponge on a stick.  A sponge of sour wine and vinegar. 

He has poured out his soul unto death.  

There was nothing left under the burning Sinai of God’s judgement as the Passover lamb was roasted. 

He then cried aloud with his last remaining strength for all to hear. 

“It is finished.”  

And he lowered his head like an obedient soldier.

Not that he was defeated by death. 

But prophecy was fulfilled.

Sin was paid for. 

The shadows of the Old Testament sacrifices were fulfilled in the substance. 

Divine wrath was satisfied.

And with his life’s purpose completed, the son now returns home. 

He recited what Jewish women taught their little boys,

“Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

Suddenly an earthquake shook the earth.  The veil of the temple was torn from God to man.  The captain of the guards, seeing the nobility of his death, said, “This man was innocent.  This man certainly was the son of God.”

Many of the crowds, terrified at the events, have fled.  They now returned, beating their breasts, knowing that they have taken the innocent life of their brother.

Sabbath, beginning at sundown, was approaching.  The body could not be taken down on Sabbath nor could it hang all night until Sabbath. Death would thus have to be hastened. A soldier would approach with a flagerian, a club, to break the legs of those who were hanging, causing them to hang with no support and suffocating to death.  The criminals’ legs were broken.  Jesus, however, was already dead.  The Bible says of Jesus, the Passover lamb, “not a bone on him shall be broken.”

The captain, perceiving that he was dead, pierced his heart with his spear, and blood and water poured forth.  Jesus was already dead.  John would later write from a verse in Zechariah, “They shall look on me, God, whom they have pierced.”

Normally a criminal’s body was cast cursed into the Hinnom valley.  But two members of the Sanhedrin, Joseph and Nicodemus, requested for the body from Pilate.  They took it down, wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid it in a nearby garden tomb, the tomb of Joseph.

The Pharisees came to Pilate.  They said, that deceiver said in three days he will rise from the dead.  If his disciples come and steal the body, the last deception will be worse than the first.  If this man was thought to have risen from the dead, then all that he has said will be regarded as true.

Pilate said, take a guard and make the tomb as secure as you know how.  Make it physically impossible for anyone to steal that body from the tomb.  A stone was rolled in place over the tomb. A Roman seal was placed on the tomb.  And a Roman guard was placed with soldiers around the clock.

Friday night passed.  And on Saturday, Sabbath began.  Then, Sunday morning will come either to give evidence to the greatest deceiver who has ever lived, or to the greatest event that has ever occurred for the salvation of man.  Will He rise from the dead on Sunday, or was He the greatest liar who ever lived?  

That is another story for Easter Sunday...

The story of Good Friday is so simple that even a child can understand. 

Either Jesus dies or I die. 

If Jesus dies. I don’t need to die. 

It is finished. 

Our perfect life we could not live, was lived by Jesus.

Our punishment which we deserved was laid upon the back of Jesus. 

It’s done. 

It’s finished. 

And in Christ, I receive my salvation. 

In Christ I receive redemption. 

In Christ I am filled with the Holy Spirit and made a new creation, that the marred image of God may be restored in me. 

Without Good Friday, Christmas would be meaningless.
Without Christmas, there would be no Good Friday.

The apostle Paul would later testify : 

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

(1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV)