A Good Friday Reflection
They came to a place called Golgotha a place whose name means “The Place of the Skull.” As I understand it, there’s a hill outside Jerusalem presumed to be the place where crucifixions took place. The side of this hill has a few caves that create a skull-like image. It’s not a place to go for a picnic. Going to Golgotha was not a joyous occasion. Golgotha was a place of death.
Then they divided his clothes. As if being beaten, whipped, mocked, and having nails driven through his hands and feet weren’t enough, they stripped him of any dignity that might remain. They take his clothes. They had already done this early that morning, but that time they placed a robe around him, along with a crown of thorns on his head.
They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. Matthew 27: 28-30
The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they all mocked Jesus saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He trusts in God; Let God rescue him now.” The criminals taunted him. Look to Jesus and find grace.
Jesus was stripped of his dignity by the Roman guards. He was mocked and chastised by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. He was taunted by the other criminals. He was deserted by his friends. And as he was on the cross, even the sun itself went dark…for three hours.
From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. (Matt 27:45)
This was no solar eclipse…eclipses don’t last for three hours. This was more than that. It was more than a natural event. It was supernatural. That is…it was beyond nature. As Paul shares in Romans 8, when sin entered the world through Adam, the entirety of creation became tainted.
So here on the cross, we have the sinless Son of God taking on the sin of the whole world. My sin and your sin. The Light of the World bore the full weight of sin, which is so dark and so heavy that not even the sun will shine. Stripped, mocked, chastised, and abandoned by Romans, by the Jews, by his friends, by nature…and then we read this:
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemásabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matt. 27:46)
Do you understand? Do I understand? Why? What had Jesus done to deserve this? I thought God was a God of justice. This seems the most unjust thing that could ever happen. How can a man, who knew no sin, die on a cross? But this question only scratches the surface, for I can conceive of wrongful death. I can conceive of planted evidence, a case of framing an enemy, a jury that’s been bribed. But this is more. God himself has turned his back on Jesus. The Father has abandoned the Son.
So let me ask again, “Where is the justice?” But let me counter that with another thought…the Bible also tells us that God’s mercy is everlasting. So we serve a God who is completely and wholly just yet who is full of mercy. How can this be? If God is just and merciful, how can it be then that Jesus was unjustly, mercilessly beaten, chastised, abandoned, and crucified?
God is just. Make no mistake about that. God is just and sin must be punished. To put the world in order, to make the world right, sin must be abolished. Paul in Romans tells us, “The wages of sin is death.” So, when the sin of the world was placed on Christ, He had to die. God is just. But there’s more.
God is merciful. Just as fervently, here I stand. God is merciful. Jesus took my place. It should have been me. I am the sinner. We all are the sinners. Again Paul is helpful, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus took my place. God is merciful.
God’s justice and God’s mercy are perfectly satisfied in the simple statement, “Jesus died.” Look to Jesus and find grace.
The Bible also speaks of forgiveness. How does forgiveness work? To forgive is to absorb the pain, the hurt, to absorb the offense. My sin and your sin was credited to him so that he then absorbs the wrath that was due us. The wrath of God is poured out on all sin and ungodliness. The wrath of God was satisfied on the cross, as Jesus took the sin of the world on his shoulders. The author of Hebrews reminds us, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.”
In a grand cosmic display, God’s perfect justice collides with God’s unending mercy on the cross of Jesus so that you and I may be forgiven of our sins.
I don’t deserve it. You don’t deserve it. Jesus didn’t deserve it. But this is grace.
When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. But the rest said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. (Matt 27:47-50)
Jesus, abandoned by most of his friends, mocked by society, and forsaken by God, Jesus breathed his last. Look to Jesus and find grace.
When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released.So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen,and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb. (Matt 27:57-61)
Jesus was crucified. His lifeless body sealed in a tomb. Jesus is dead. It’s good to stay here…but not for long.
Ragamuffin Warrior 