Good Friday

For the past five weeks we have been exploring the last 24 hours of Jesus life. We have sat with Jesus at the table of his last meal. We have listened to him cry out in agony in the garden. We have realized that it was the righteous who sought to take his life, the most religious of the most religious. We have been shocked when Jesus went before Pilate and did not defend himself and dismayed when Pilate gave into the requests of the people to crucify Jesus and let Barabbas go. We have covered our eyes at the pain and humiliation Jesus faced when he was flogged, mocked, and struggled to carry the beam of the cross he would hang on up Calvary.

We have now arrived at the climax of the last 24 hours for Jesus. In less than six hours Jesus would be dead, but the agony on the cross awaits him. By nine in the morning, Jesus was nailed to the cross. The 75-100 pound beam he had carried, the cross beam, was placed horizontally on the post that the Romans kept on the hill for their crucifixions. While not all victims had their arms nailed to the cross, some were tied, Jesus had nails driven through his palms or wrists. His feet were nailed, one on each side of the vertical post. And he hung there naked. Bleeding from the flogging. And exhausted from his trip up the hill carrying the beam, even after Simon of Cyrene was forced to help him.

Jesus was just barley hanging on for life when he got on top of Calvary that day. Remember that the Romans had the same goal with every punishment they inflicted, to cause the maximum amount of pain for the longest period of time. They wanted to teach everyone else watching a lesson - that this was not an honorable way to die - so that they would avoid doing anything that could lead to such a punishment.

Those watching were close enough to touch Jesus. The cross would have only been six to nine feet off of the ground, with the victim only hanging two to three feet from those watching. Mary was close enough to almost touch the cheek of her baby boy. Can you imagine the agony Jesus felt, dying in front of his mother like that? Could you imagine being a parent and watching your child struggle so much to die? There is a spiritual that has the following words that capture Jesus’ emotional pain on the cross, “Take my mother home... I’ll die so easy. Take my mother home. I’ll die this death on Calvary, just take my mother home.” Can you see the pain in Jesus eyes? A pain too deep for words.

The physical and emotional pain were not the only ways that Jesus suffered that day. The humiliation that had haunted him all through the trial, sentencing, and flogging continued. The Romans nailed a sign above him that contained their mocking cry, “King of the Jews.” They cried out to him, “You who said you could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, prove yourself to us now by coming down off of the cross.” And “You saved others, now save yourself.” Can you hear the taunting cries?

Three hours upon on the cross, and a darkness came over the land. A pitch black that should normally does not eclipse the noontime sun. The darkness continued for three hours, until around 3 o’clock in the afternoon Jesus uttered his last words, as recorded by the Gospel of Mark, “My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?” Words from Psalm 22, though Jesus may have not been thinking of that Psalm in particular when he cried them. He may simply have been crying out what he was thinking.

Have we not all had times in our lives when we felt that God had abandoned us, or if not abandoned us then not listening to us? But instead of hearing Jesus’ cries and identifying with how betrayed and abandoned he felt, those listening thought that he was crying out for the prophet Elijah. Some even thought that there was a possibility that Elijah would come and take him down off of the cross. A sliver of belief in the midst of so much unbelief during the last 24 hours. Some one thinking that Jesus just may be the Messiah.

But Elijah did not come, for that was not God’s plan for that time. Jesus gave one last agonizing cry and the breath of life escaped him. It was finished. Jesus was dead.

All through out my childhood, there was a community wide service to commemorate this day on the Christian calendar. A three hour long service to commemorate the seven last words, or phrases of Jesus life as portrayed by the Gospels. Mark’s account was always the hardest to wrestle with. The idea that Jesus, who was the son of God, and is one with God, would feel abandoned by God. Jesus, the one we find our hope in, utters words of total defeat.

One of the ways that Christians have reconciled this cry is to say that Jesus had the sins of the world placed upon him on the cross, which caused God so much pain to look at, that God turned away. I struggle with this view of the cross and attempt to explain Jesus’ cry, because it is not my experience with God. I believe in a God who walks with us through the most painful situations in life, never turning away or letting us go. But I also know that it our humanness we cannot always perceive this, cannot always understand, which causes us spiritual pain. In this cry we see Jesus’ humanity coming through. In the darkest hour of his life, he felt that God was silent. But friends, I find hope in that. I find hope in having a savior who understands me even when I feel God is absent or I am upset with God, because he was there on the cross that day. And Jesus reminds me that I can still have faith in God even when I feel abandoned, which he modeled by still having the faith to cry out to God.

For me that is one of the beautiful things of the cross. Jesus loved me, loved us, enough to die for our transgressions, but it is also him deeply identifying with any pain I may have because he faced it all that day - physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain. All on that cross that day. So any type of pain that I may experience in this life, Jesus has walked through and Jesus understands.

Of course the message and meaning of the cross can be different for other people. For some it was Jesus substituting his life for ours, as the perfect sacrificial lamb, an illusion to the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur, when the sins of the people were placed upon a scapegoat, to be released and never seen again. In other words, Jesus took our place. For others it is a reminder of the depth of human sin and the vastness of God’s love. For others a restoration in relationship. A sacrificial offering.

The cross can mean something to us at different stages in our life. It can mean all of these things to us and more simultaneously. The power of the cross is bigger then any of us can probably ever understand in our life time. But if you leave this service tonight I want you to understand one thing about the cross, it is a symbol of God’s love for us. Jesus died a horrific death on this symbol of injustice and torture, but he did it out of love for us and obedience to God, and that means something to us. It is not the complete story of our faith, because Good Friday means very little without the message we will hear in a few days of Easter, but it demonstrates the power of love. Love of laying down ones life, not only for those whom love you, but those who hate you. A love so powerful that it changed the course of human history, and tore the curtain in the temple. A love so profound, that even those who crucified Jesus that day caught a glimpse of it, as the centurion proclaimed, “Truly this man was God’s son!” The solider saw Jesus dying that day, maybe even was one of those who mocked him, and did not understand what was happening. But at least one solider stood there, watching Jesus struggle, looking into his eyes, hearing his last cry to God, watching him breath his last breathe and was changed. That, brothers and sisters, is the power of the love of the Cross! Even those whom hated Jesus were moved by him and his offering of reconciliation.

I want you to take time this evening to think about what the cross means to you. Why does it matter to you? I also want you to take time and think about what ways you need to ask for forgiveness, this evening, to restore your relationship with God. What sins you want to leave at the cross tonight and not pick up again, by the grace of God. We may never fully understand the power of the cross, but we recognize it tonight for what it is - God conquered the malice and hatred the cross represented and replaced it with a love that conquers all malice.