Friday of Holy Week (Good Friday)

Good Friday is a holy day. It isn't a holiday to be celebrated, but rather a day to be remembered with reverence. Good Friday is good for us because it wasn't for Jesus.

On Friday morning, He was brought before Pontious Pilate, the Roman governor, and and Herod Antipas, who held jurisdiction over Galilee, on trumped up charges from the Jewish religious leaders. Read the accounts in Luke 22:47-53,66–23:12; Matthew 26:47-68; 27:1-14; Mark 14:43-65; 15:1-3; and John 18:1-14, 19-24, 28-38.
Pilate admitted that he could find no reason to charge Jesus with anything. But he put the decision to the crowds and when given the choice between releasing Jesus and releasing Barabbas, a prisoner who had led a rebellion that had included murder (Mark 15:7), they chose Barabbas. They cried out for Jesus to be crucified. So Pilate ordered Jesus to be flogged and handed Him over to be crucified, a criminal's death.

The crowds mocked Jesus. Scripture says they scoffed and hurled insults His way. As the Roman soldiers flogged Him, the guards spit on Him, made fun of Him, and smashed a crown of thorns into His temples. As if this terrible anticipation of the pain of the cross wasn't enough, the people seemed dead-set on humiliating Jesus and stripping Him of every ounce of dignity He possessed. Prophecy had said that the Messiah would be humiliated (Isaiah 53); Jesus now had to live through the gut-wrenching reality of it.  Read the accounts in Matthew 27:27-31 and John 19:1-16. Read them aloud, if it helps you to understand what was happening.

Now read Philippians 2:8. Jesus was God, and He didn't have to suffer this indignity, but He did—in obedience to His Father's plan.

He did it for you.

Jesus then carried His own cross down the long road to Golgotha, the hill where He would be crucified. More mocking and screams accompanied Him. Finally, He was placed on a cross between two criminals, one of whom also mocked Him. Soldiers divided Jesus' clothes and cast lots for them. Around noon, darkness came over the “whole land” (Luke 23:44) and around 3 p.m., “the sun's light failed” (Luke 23:45) and the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom. Jesus cried out, saying “Father, into Your hands I entrusts My spirit.”

It was over. He was dead.

The disciples dispersed, probably feeling like fools. The Teacher they'd followed was gone. What else could they do? He was dead. They'd failed. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

A few followers took Jesus off the cross and buried Him in a borrowed tomb. They were stunned. They felt fear, despair, anguish, that strange hollow feeling you get when everything falls apart and everything you thought was true seems so messed up.

They didn't understand. Their grief overshadowed Christ's own reminder that He would rise on the third day.

The disciples understood one thing correctly that fateful day: nothing was ever going to be the same again.Understand Christ's sacrifice for you. Know that we do not have salvation without that sacrifice. But don't “grieve like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Turn your thoughts toward Easter. Turn your heart toward Christ, our risen Hope.