Meditation:
Good Friday?
Friday – All through the night Jesus has been locked in the dungeon of Kishle Prison, the Citadel, Jerusalem. Early this morning he was brought before Pilate who transferred his case to Herod. Herod sent him back to Pilate, who, sometime in the middle morning, bowed to the pressure of the Temple leadership and the crowds, and condemned Jesus to a horrible death by crucifixion. In the late morning, Jesus was taken by the soldiers through the city and up the hillside of Golgotha. By noon, he is nailed to the cross where he hangs in agony for some three hours. He dies around three in the afternoon.
Good Friday? Good? What is good about this?
This is how Billy Graham answered that question: “Why is it called ‘Good Friday’? Because by His death, Jesus became the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. We cannot erase our guilt, nor can we overcome our sins by our good deeds. But Christ did what we could never do for ourselves, by dying for us on that first Good Friday. May this day truly become ‘Good Friday’ for you, as you confess your sins and put your faith and trust in Christ.”
‘Good’ is translated ‘Holy’ among the many meanings of the Greek word ‘agatho’ which means “an uprightness of heart and life”.
For us, in the here and now, in our present state of affairs; quarantine, isolation, separation, however you wish to describe it, on this day we focus on what Jesus has done for us. We can actually celebrate Good Friday because we are recipients of grace and we stand on this side of the Resurrection. His death was a sacrifice so that we can receive the ultimate gift, Eternal Life.
What does the Bible say about Good Friday?
Mark 10:34: who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and killed him. Three days later he will rise.
Matthew 12:40: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Roman 5:6-10: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
John 3:16-17: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.
An excerpt from A Life for Barabbas:
“Barabbas looked back to the cross and realized that Jesus was now looking at him. Him! He was not mistaken. Their eyes met for a powerful moment. Jesus was not accusing him. No, it was as if he was recognizing Barabbas and excepting him as his…what? His friend?
Yes, but more than that. There was something else in that look, in that glance. What was it? There was kindness in it, a warmth to it, maybe acceptance. No, it was more than that. It was as if Jesus was reaching out and touching him. From the cross, Jesus touched him!
Barabbas did not want to turn away but the intensity of the feeling was too much. When he finally looked back to the cross, Jesus had turned to the man on his right, a thief, and said something that caused the man to pause in his pain, and to weep, as if something amazing and wondrous had happened to him. How could that be?
Barabbas found it hard to breathe. Again, he couldn’t understand what was happening to him. What had Jesus meant by that glance, that touch, and what had he said to that man that seemed to take him away from his pain?
He now saw that Jesus was looking down and speaking to a man and two women at the foot of the cross. Who were they? What had he said to them?
As Barabbas took all of this in, he kept asking himself, what is happening? What did all of this mean? And, that time of darkness, what did that mean? That wasn’t a dust storm. What was it?
Who was this man? This person he had never met.”
Good Friday Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, you willed that your Son should bear for us the pains of the Cross, that You might remove from us the power of the adversary: Help us to remember and give thanks for our Lord’s Passion that we may obtain remission of sin and redemption from everlasting death; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
