Good Friday 2024

Intro to Reading

On this day - on this Good Friday - we are here together, gathered to remember and to re-tell a story we likely know quite well.

As Dave said earlier in our Call to Worship, we are here to share a story of betrayal and execution. And yes this is a day we call Good Friday.

So why? Why do we call this day Good. It is a dark day, a terrible story, a tragedy by all appearances.

And yet we call this day good. So let’s go back to the story.

In a moment I’m going to read part of Mark chapter 15.

And I’d like to invite you to see whether there’s a particular person or group of people that stands out to you as I read. So I want to introduce you to the cast of characters - it’s an ensemble cast kind of scene:

It could be Jesus Himself.

It could be Simon of Cyrene.

It could be the two rebels, crucified beside Jesus.

It could be “those passing by”

It could be the religious leaders.

It could be “those standing near”

It could be the one who ran to get the sponge.

It could be the centurion.

It could be the women watching from a distance.

As we read, simply notice who grabs your attention or if someone does.e

Mark 15:21–41 NIV

21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. 25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews. 27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. 28 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. 33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). 35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” 36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” 40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

On Good Friday, on the cross, we see who God is, what God is really like.

The cross is not just an event. It is a reality.

As followers of Jesus, we gather at the cross - on this day, but also every time we gather, we do so in the shadow of this day. This is the event, the reality that helps us make sense of everything else. This is the lens through which we interpret the rest of scripture. Jesus the Word, here in his death, reveals God to us - and that revelation comes into clearest focus on Good Friday.

During my own life of faith, I am discovering Good Friday to be day that re-grounds me in the goodness of God.

So what does Good Friday show us about God?

Good Friday, the cross, shows us that God is self-giving, that God offers radical forgiveness and that God is co-suffering love.

self-giving

God gives of God’s self. And we see this in all three members of the Trinity. The Father lavishes love on all of creation. Delights in. Jesus the Son is a gift. And He reveals God’s nature of giving of self. Divine self-disclosure. “This is who I Am” And the Spirit not only gifts us with the presence of God - with us - but also an indwelling presence. God in us. And us drawn into God.

In Mark 10, Jesus told his disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The ransom is paid to death. We are set free.

In Rev 13:8, we realize that Christ slain before the foundation of the world is who God is. Good Friday reveals this reality. And means we finally get to see God for who God is. The One who is self-giving.

God offers radical forgiveness

“Jesus dies, not with a curse upon his lips, but with a plea for pardon… On the cross we encounter a God who would rather die than kill his enemies. When we look through the riven side of Christ into the heart of God, we gaze upon a vast cosmos filled with galaxies of grace.” Brian Zahnd, The Wood Between the Worlds

The forgiveness offered on the cross is so radical that it seems sometimes to be too radical. Doesn’t it? But Jesus absorbs the sin of the whole world in this act. And he offers forgiveness, even as he lays down his life.

Radical forgiveness.

God is co-suffering love

BZ: “God does not exempt himself from the experience [of suffering], but fully shares it with us in Christ…When we see Christ in agony upon the cross, we see a suffering God who refuses to allow his beloved creatures to suffer alone.”

“To love someone is to share in their suffering. Grief is wounded love.

Which person drew your attention during the reading?

If you put yourself into their shoes, how do you think they saw God revealed as this story unfolded before them?

How did Simon of Cyrene enter into the self-giving love of God as he carried the cross for Jesus. What did he tell Alexander and Rufus when he got home that day?

How did the two rebels crucified with Jesus experience God as revealed in the man being crucified between them? (We know a bit of their story from other gospels, but Mark only tells us that they both hurled insults at him. How did the repentant one experience the radical forgiveness of Jesus. And how did the other one respond when he heard the conversation happening between his two neighbours.

Those passing by - hurling insults as well… perhaps not stopping long enough to see anything except 3 insurrectionists or criminals getting what they deserve.

The religious leaders - clinging to power, thinking that that’s where the glory is. When Jesus is demonstrating that true glory is self-giving, radically forgiving and co-suffering. Something religious leaders and religious people (like us!) are still wrestling with today.

Those standing near or the women watching from a distance - questions rising, accepting “what is” - after all, some of the women watching at a distance will be the same women who early on Sunday morning will make the trip to the tomb in order to take care of the anointing of Jesus’ body that got skipped in all the flurry of trying to get him down off the cross before the Sabbath began. Taking care of the practicalities and … well, we’ll save that for Sunday.

The centurion. Is he part of Mark’s original audience? Or part of how some of them came to faith? Did his recognition of Jesus’ identity lead to him becoming one of the people in the early church?

What do you see being revealed about how God is this morning?

I see Jesus showing us who God is… a self-giving God, a radically forgiving God, love that pours itself out in with and for and alongside us.

Good Friday is good because it reveals who God really is. Jesus, on the cross, shows us God. That God is self-giving, that God offers radical forgiveness and that even in our darkest moments, God is present because God is co-suffering love. We are not left alone, we are forgiven, and we are being drawn into the very life of the Triune God. Good Friday indeed.