Printer Friendly VersionWe call today “Good Friday.” But had we been around
on the original Good Friday, had we been there on the day Jesus died and if
somehow we could have found the hiding and frightened disciples, those men
who had been the closest friends of Jesus--and had we talked to those men
they no doubt would have said that the day, that “Good Friday”
was anything but “good.”
They had had plenty of good days with Jesus. No doubt about
it, but that Friday--the day Jesus died--was not one they would have mentioned.
If we had gone to Peter and said, “Hey Pete, what was
the best day you ever had with Jesus?” Maybe he would have mentioned
the day he walked on water. He would have told us how Jesus was walking on
the water in the middle of a storm. He would say Jesus called him to come,
and how he just jumped over the side of the boat to go to Jesus. Peter would
tell us, “And I was doing good too--walking right on top of the water.
Until I started to notice the wind and the waves and then it was: Oh my goodness,
what am I doing out here? I sunk like a rock. But Jesus rescued me--and gave
me a good lesson too. As long as I keep my eyes on Him I’ll be all right,
but when I get my eyes off him that’s when I’m sunk.” The
day I walked on the water was a good day.
Maybe Andrew, another disciple and Peter’s kid brother,
would tell us about the day he took to Jesus the little boy’s lunch
when there were 5,000 hungry man-sized bellies to fill not to mention all
of the empty tummies of the women and children. He would tell us the absurdity
of thinking Jesus could actually do something with that boy’s little
lunch. And then how miracle of miracles not only did Jesus feed all those
people but there were leftovers to boot. Andrew would say, “That was
a very good day.”
Had we talked to Matthew, he would mention the day he was minding
everybody’s business in his tax collector’s booth when Jesus looked
straight at him and said, “C’mon Matthew, follow me.” And
Matthew would tell us he did one of those, “Who me?” double takes.
“You can’t be talking to me?” But Jesus was indeed talking
to him, and Matthew did indeed follow Him. Matthew would say no doubt about
it, the day he heard Jesus say “Follow Me!” was a very good day.
John might have mentioned the day when they pulled in a record
fishing hull after not catching a fish all night long. And Thomas might have
mentioned the day when a blind man was made to see. James might have recalled
one of the occasions when Jesus put the hoity-toity Pharisees in their place.
You see the disciples had spent plenty of good days with Jesus.
But this day, this Friday--it would not have been considered very good in
the disciple’s minds. Not the day that Jesus was crucified.
It’s amazing the Gospel writers give such vivid detail of so much of
the events of that day. We’ve already read most of the words Jesus said
from the Cross. And the writers tell us who was there and who was not. They
tell of the strange events that went along with the death of Jesus: the temple
curtain being ripped. They tell about the earthquakes and darkness that fell
across the land and all the rest.
So if we could jump into some Back to the Future type of time
machine and traveled back to the original “Good Friday” we would
see:
• A few ladies crying at the foot of the Cross.
• Soldiers tossing some dice for the grand prize of a second hand robe.
• Only one, just one disciple would be within sight, that would be,
John the son of Zebedee.
• The other disciples were hiding. One is dead (Judas).
• The average guy on the street might have said: You can’t fight
Rome and the Pharisees.
• Pilate had clean hands but an unclean conscious.
• The religious “pooh bahs” no doubt would have thought
The Blasphemer won’t be bothering us anymore.
• And of course, had we traveled back to the first “Good Friday”
we would have seen Jesus, hanging, dying on the Cross.
If we had listened in, we would have heard those words.
To the crowd: “Father forgive them.”
To the crook turned seeker: “Today you’ll be with
me in paradise.”
To his mother: “Woman, behold your son.”
To God: “Why? Why have you abandoned me?”
To no one in particular: “I am thirsty.”
To His heavenly Father: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
And the last word, the words we have yet to read, the words
for all eternity and for all people: “It is finished!”
Listen to John’s reading of this moment: (read John 19:17-30).
It is finished.
The beating, the bloodshed, His dying on the cross--you understand
that is the supreme picture and ultimate example of a suffering servant. These
24 hours began in an upper room with the disciples refusing or at the least
ignoring the call to servanthood. 24 hours earlier, Jesus got up from the
table and began to wash the disciples’ dirty feet. And now 24 hours
later, Jesus is doing something about the dirty hearts and the dirty lives,
not just for the disciples but for all men and all women.
Isaiah wrote about the extreme day centuries before Jesus walked on the earth.
He wrote: (read Isaiah 53:3-9).
It was for your sins and mine that Jesus went to the Cross.
It was for you and me that He endured the suffering and shame. We call this
day Good Friday. It is good--Jesus died for our sins. But this is not a day
for parades. It is not a day for joyous celebrations. It is a day of shadows.
It is a day to remember. It is a day to reflect on the price that was paid.
When I was a young boy at the old Elmwood Church of the Nazarene,
our song leader was a man named Raymond Sexton. There are a few things you
need to know about Brother Sexton. He had a deep booming voice. My brother
tells me that when he was young everybody, old and young alike, would be in
the sanctuary. There was no children’s church in those days. And when
it was prayer time of course, every head was bowed. Every eye was closed.
It was during those moments that Fred tells how he believed he heard the voice
of God. The preacher would be praying and Fred would hear a booming: “Yes!”
He thought it was God giving an immediate affirmative response to the prayers
of the preacher. What ever the need: “Yes!” Whatever the problem:
“Yes!” Until one day he peeked. He did not have his head bowed.
His eyes were not shut. He peeked. And what he saw was Brother Sexton, deep
in prayer agreeing with the preacher: “Yes!”
The other thing you need to know about Brother Sexton is that
as our song leader, he played the guitar. It wasn’t that our service
was contemporary or hip or cutting edge back in the 1960s. We just didn’t
have a piano player or organist. We were such a small band of believers that
all we had was Brother Sexton and his guitar. And together with his guitar
accompaniment, we would sing the old hymns of the Church. But sometimes when
we sang “The Old Rugged Cross” we would have to sing on without
Mr. Sextons booming voice and sometimes without his strumming of the guitar.
Blessed by the words, Mr. Sexton would stop playing, stop singing and simply
lift his hands toward heaven as the church sang:
In the old rugged cross
Stained with blood so divine
A wondrous attraction I see
For ‘twas on that old cross
Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown.
Brother Sexton understood. Jesus suffered and died on that first
Good Friday. He did it all for our salvation.
So as we leave this room in the darkness. We leave knowing Jesus paid it all on that old rugged cross--to pardon and sanctify us. The price was high. Think of your sin, your shame, your burden, and troubles you would still be dealing with had that Cross not been stained with blood so divine. Think of where you would be, if Jesus had not gone to that old rugged Cross. He did it for us. It is done. The mission was accomplished. It is finished.
