Good Friday 2024

Introduction

Good morning everyone, and welcome to our Good Friday breakfast. We call it Good Friday because we are celebrating what Jesus did for us, which is very good. In the moment though, what Jesus did for us on the cross didn’t seem very good, did it? Let’s take a look at Matthew’s account of the crucifixion as found in Matthew 27:27-54

Matthew 27:27–54 CSB

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company around him. 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. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they found a Cyrenian man named Simon. They forced him to carry his cross. When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave him wine mixed with gall to drink. But when he tasted it, he refused to drink it. After crucifying him, they divided his clothes by casting lots. Then they sat down and were guarding him there. Above his head they put up the charge against him in writing: This Is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two criminals were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now—if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him. From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 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. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

So the question is, why did Jesus have to die? Why the cross? It’s interesting that just recently one of my siblings asked me why it is that Easter moves around every year. That’s because Easter is intentionally planned to coincide with Passover, which is a Jewish festival, and the Jewish calendar is different then ours. The reason for this is that we know “The Last Supper” that the disciples shared with Jesus was the Passover meal.

The Passover is a festival that Jewish people celebrate to remember when God rescued them out of their slavery in Egypt. The final plague that God sent against the Egyptians was the angel of death sent to kill all of the firstborn sons of Egypt. God told the Israelites to slaughter a lamb for each household and spread their blood on their doorposts in order to avoid this same judgment.

So by being crucified at the time of Passover Jesus identified Himself with that Passover lamb. We aren’t in slavery to Egypt. Instead we’re in slavery to our bad thoughts, evil desires, our natural inclination to do what is wrong. That’s what God is saving us from. And in order to do so a lamb was slaughtered. Now we can metaphorically spread the blood of this lamb on the doorpost of our hearts in order to have the angel of death pass us over as well.

John 3:16–17 CSB

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will 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 through him.

Jesus died so that we don’t have to. Death was the just penalty for our sins, and Jesus died that death for us. Now if we repent and follow Jesus we too can have eternal life with Him and the Father in eternity.

So the darkest day is now the day that we call good. We celebrate how He suffered and died because He did it for us. So let us continue to share in fellowship, and in worship, out of a spirit of deep thankfulness for what Jesus did for us on that cross.