Good Friday
Open Your Bible
Mark 15:1-47, Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:1-7
BY Rebecca Faires
Why did they crucify Jesus? Because it was a part of God’s eternal redemptive plan, for starters, but what did they write down in their court records? What was His crime? He was King of the Jews.
Jesus attests to this identity, as does Pilate, and later, the Roman soldiers. The magi came to Bethlehem, seeking Him by this title, and it was the written charge against Him as He hung on the cross (Matthew 27:37). He wasn’t the king the Jewish people expected, nor was He the king they wanted. When “Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ He answered him, ‘You say so’” (Mark 15:2). He made no defense because it was His very person that offended, His Kingship itself is an offense to every sinful heart. The Cornerstone is the stumbling block, the rock of offense. They mocked Him as He hung on the cross, but their tongues unwittingly confessed Him as “Messiah, the King of Israel.”
In his letter to the Romans, the indictment that Paul brings against unbelievers is not that they do not know the truth, but that they know it, and yet suppress it: “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). Though He came to humanity in flesh and blood, “he was despised, and we didn’t value him” (Isaiah 53:3).
Pilate and the Jewish people did not need more evidence of who Jesus was in order to believe. They rejected the evidence that was right in front of them. Indeed, when at the end “Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last,” even this testified to who He is in such a way that when the centurion witnessed His death, the soldier said, ‘“Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:37,39).
Each Lenten season, the Church remembers the long journey Christ walked to the cross. Each year, we encounter the same evidence, the same professions of Jesus’s Messiahship, the same hardened hearts that do not like the truth before them. The goodness of Good Friday is that Christ came to redeem blind, deaf, and rebellious people just like us. He came to bear upon Himself the guilt of our sin:
“He was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds” (Isaiah 53:5).
The goodness of Good Friday is that because He walked silently to the cross, like a Lamb to slaughter, not protesting the punishment meted out upon Him, we have hope. He was rejected by God that we might be made acceptable to God, a people for His own possession. This was the promise given through Jeremiah: “I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). See as the centurion did, the truth that is already before our eyes, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and He has purchased our salvation! Thanks be to God!
58 thoughts on "Good Friday"
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Amen, happy Good Friday everyone ❤️
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The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. I shared earlier that my daughter was expecting her first child. I have been at her home in Atlanta for the last week. On Monday she went into the hospital to be induced. The baby was not born until Wednesday night. She had to have a c-section. The baby had respiratory issues and was placed in the NICU. Because of Covid-19 my husband and I couldn’t be at the hospital.
I wish that I could say I was the picture of calm, cool, and collected – resting completely in God, peaceful, trusting, joyful, but I wasn’t. There were moments when I was all that, but I have to confess that there were more moments of anxiety, frustration, sheer panic and heart-stopping fear – lots of moments where I couldn’t breathe.
BUT GOD…He stayed right here with me. He did my throw up His hands and say, “we’ll talk when you’ve calmed down.” Walking with me, helping me breathe, He. Was. So. Present. He didn’t try to reason with me. He didn’t give me trite sayings, most of the time He didn’t say anything. He was just present and as I leaned into that presence He was able to whisper to my soul, “I am here. I have got this. You really can trust me. I am your Rock. I am your salvation. I am your stronghold. I will turn your sorrow into joy.”
All of this, on this most somber of days, would be possible without the cross. I would have none of this if Jesus had not gone to the cross to make it possible for me to have access. I have peace WITH God because of Jesus death in the cross. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
And, mom and baby are doing fine. Wyatt (10lbs 6oz) should be off everything today. They will be home this weekend – probably Easter. Hallelujah! What a Savior!-
Thanks for sharing Kathy! Yes, what a savior and I appreciate your honest testimony to the Christ of the cross and the Christ of the Resurrection who walked with you.
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Thank you for sharing! I am so glad they are all doing well!
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Mark 15 paints such a vivid description of Jesus dying on the cross for us. This was not a peaceful death. So much pain, so much humiliation that Jesus endured for us. I’m overwhelmed, humbled, grateful ❤️.
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Wow. Profound. Thank you for wrapping these thoughts together so clearly. I am grateful. May Jesus, the Christ, be praised!
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HE walked silently to the cross, like a lamb to the slaughter. This hit me hard this morning as I read it with my daughter. He did it for me and for you. I never want forget that.
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“ His Kingship itself is an offense to every sinful heart.” This really struck me. My self pitying heat said Yeah! That’s why Hollywood always portrays us as hypocrites! But then the Holy Spirit checked me with, What are you doing to change that perspective?
Yesterday we read about Jesus clearing the temple calling the religious leaders hypocrites and a brood off vipers.
So yes, the non believer is offended by Christ but as His agent on earth I must give a different perspective. I must love my life in a way that when unbelievers see Hollywood’s interpretation of a Christ follower, they think, Sometimes but not always. -
Yesterday I read through a couple of articles telling about the beliefs of a particular cult who think of salvation as a need to become aware of the deity in us, as they believe Christ did — Christ consciousness, rather than Christ being God in the flesh and our deepest need is forgiveness and freedom from our slavery to sin. This “New Thought” way of thinking, in my view, is evidence of the rebellion of hard hearts which want what Adam and Eve attempted to attain in the garden, to be God. In reading today’s Scriptures and devotion, the heavy heart I have for those blind to the truth is stirred up again.I remember my own hard heart prior to having the blinders removed. My prayer this Easter season is that many will be granted the mercy of God and truly hear the message of the gospel. Perhaps this unique time we’re in with COVID-19 and the need for online services might be a vessel the Lord uses to speak to those who otherwise would not step foot into a church. May the Holy Spirit be powerfully moving among the people of God who already have tasted this new life and revival comes about so that we are even more on mission to build God’s kingdom than ever before. Oh how I trust the Lord to hear the pleas of his people when we humble ourselves before him!
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Oh Sisters, so much struck me this morning, but especially the darkness at noon day and the veil torn in two. The Light of the World had been put to death. The Father had to turn away from His Son. Such sorrow take on to bring us to Himself. I can not fathom all that it took this separation of God from Himself or the weight of our sins. It overwhelms me. And that it was God’s plan, the crucifiction of His Son would bring salvation to the world. So, we can know that He knew this trying time would come and He brings joy in the morning. He is alive and He is working in this time I have no doubt through each of you to pour His love out to all those He puts in your path, to be shine His light when so many still need the Truth, the Word. To God be the Glory. Praying Joy to you all this day when the King of King’s gave it all for us.
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❤️❤️❤️
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