Good Friday

[Mt 27:46]  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

 

Good Friday was truly good for the human family; but it was far from good, from the worldly standpoint, for Jesus.  He was betrayed, denied, and abandoned by His own followers.  He was falsely accused by His own people.  He was mocked and reviled.  It is very difficult to read the events in Matthew 27 and Mark 15 reflectively, and especially to contemplate Jesus being “scourged.”  The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia describes the instrument by which it was administered:  A Roman implement for severe bodily punishment. …It consisted of a handle, to which several cords or leather thongs were affixed, which were weighted with jagged pieces of bone or metal, to make the blow more painful and effective. It is comparable, in its horrid effects, only with the Russian knout. The victim was tied to a post (Ac 22:25) and the blows were applied to the back and loins, sometimes even, in the wanton cruelty of the executioner, to the face and the bowels. In the tense position of the body, the effect can easily be imagined. So hideous was the punishment that the victim usually fainted and not rarely died under it.

And then He was nailed to the cross and allowed to slowly die. These events, and Jesus Himself, are amazingly and accurately described in Isaiah 53, written prophetically seven hundred years earlier.  There we read, “But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [vs.5].  One of the wonderful and important disciplines of the Christian faith is to maintain a growing awareness of the price that was paid for our salvation.  Like spoiled children, we are constantly tempted to take it for granted—to presume upon God’s grace and mercy toward us, and fail to be adequately thankful that we are no longer in condemnation.  We are free from guilt, shame, and fear because Christ entered into the farthest depths of the pit of human experience.  Most amazingly, and perhaps most painfully, He either was, or at least allowed Himself to feel, FORSAKEN BY GOD!  Theologians have many comments to make about this statement and what it means.  But at the very least, in those moments, Jesus, the Lord of Love and Prince of Peace, the perfect Lamb of God, felt forsaken by His heavenly Father Whom He had so obediently served.  I cannot imagine a deeper psychological pit of despair and hopelessness than to be God forsaken.  And Jesus went there on my behalf.  He not only had to suffer the worst imaginable physical trauma, but He had to go as low as the human psyche could possibly go in order to be our Messiah.  Lest we sink into excessive despair in contemplating this, we are reminded by Paul in Hebrews 12 that “it was for the joy that was set before Him” that He endured the cross.  His joy was in accomplishing His earthshaking mission to deliver the human family from the death grip of the prince of this world.  Whatever we suffer, physically or psychologically in this brief time on earth, Jesus can always say to us, “I know how that feels.  Hang on.  Don’t worry. Sunday’s coming!”

 

Lord Jesus, may I never forget what You have done for me.  And, by Your grace, may I live a life worthy of Your sacrifice.