Good morning, and welcome to Good Friday. It still seems odd to me that we use the term “good” to describe today. It really seems more like it should be “Black Friday”, but that of course has a different meaning to us. This day—the day we look at the crucifixion of Christ doesn’t seem very good. We know that what He accomplished for us that day is good, but there is no power in His death without His resurrection. So to me, even though I know that Christ did good through this day, it still seems dark with mourning, the opposite of good.
What about you? When you consider the cross and the sacrifice He made, what emotions come up? As I read today’s passage, which is a little lengthy, try to connect with the story in a fresh way, and try to connect with the emotions you might feel.
Let’s hear John 19:1-30, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
There are some things that stand out about what Jesus endured: flogged by Pilate, crown of thorns on His head, mocking robe and hails, struck by soldiers, shamefully displayed, listened to cries to be crucified, found innocent by Pilate but still delivered to be crucified, bore His own cross, crucified, thirsty, given wine vinegar to drink and then died.
If you grew up in the church or if you’ve been a Christian for a while, you’ve heard this story again and again and again and again. We have crosses everywhere. We wear them on our necks and hang them on our walls. Our media is so violent and graphic now that the cross doesn’t seem very dark. Maybe, just maybe, we’ve become a little numb to the crucifixion of Christ.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, as you continue to spend time with Him, I want you to ask the Spirit to give you a fresh perspective on what Christ endured and accomplished that day. It was no small thing, and it’s not something to be flippant about. Then, read through the other gospel’s accounts of the crucifixion to help you truly grasp the gravity of that day. You’ll find those stories in Matthew 27:1-56; Mark 15:1-41; and Luke 22:63-23:49.