It is Enough that Jesus Died (A Good Friday Sermon)
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As many of you guys know, for years I made a tradition out of watching the movie The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday. I didn’t do it this year, but I did come across an article about some unusual things that happened during the making of that movie:
Did you know that Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus, was struck by lightning while they were filming the Sermon on the Mount scene. Minutes later an assistant director was also struck by lightning.
During the brutal, 13 minute flogging scene, Caviezel was accidentally hit during the because the actor swinging the whip missed the hidden whipping post and instead struck Caviezel.
Caviezel dislocated his shoulder while carrying the 150-pound cross through the streets of Jerusalem towards Golgotha.
The crucifixion scene was shot in 25 degree weather with 34 mile per hour winds, and Caviezel ended up getting severe pneumonia.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know that it is rated R for a reason. I don’t think there has ever been a more violent, bloodstained depiction of the last hours of Jesus’ life.
And I’m not saying that all those things happened to Jim Caviezel as some warning from God that they shouldn’t make the movie. But I do want to point out that there is a big difference between how modern culture talks about the suffering and death of Jesus and how the gospels do.
At some point, we started thinking that if we didn’t go over every detail of the beating, the flogging, the crown of thorns, the nails, the spear, the taunting, the mockery, the pain, the suffering, all in high definition technicolor, that people wouldn’t “get” the crucifixion. And when you consider how often movies are remade when special effects and CGI improves, I wonder if a few years from now someone in Hollywood is going to say, “You know what, we should remake the Passion. It wasn’t graphic enough the first time.”
But in contrast, the gospels are masterpieces of understatement. Listen to what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had to say about the flogging.
Matthew and Mark say that Pilate, wanting to appease the crowd released Barabbas, and “having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Mt. 27:26, Mark 15:15)
John says Pilate took Jesus and flogged him (19:1). And Luke doesn’t say anything at all.
What about the crucifixion itself?
35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.
33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
And John 19:18
18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
None of the gospels mention Jesus being nailed to the cross, although John’s gospel alludes to it when Thomas says he won’t believe Jesus is resurrected until he puts his hands in the nail holes (John 20:24).
The only time the word “blood” is used is in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Luke says Jesus sweat was like drops of blood, and after Jesus was dead, when the soldier pierced Jesus side, and blood and water flowed.
Please don’t misunderstand me. It was awful. It was bloody. It was excruciating for Jesus. In fact, the word excruciating literally means the pain one would experience from crucifixion: ex crucio.
But if all you come away from Good Friday with is a graphic reminder of the torture of Jesus, you can miss the love of Jesus.
John used the word crucified twelve times. He used the word love seventy times.
A quarter of John’s gospel— chapters 13-17, deal with the three hour meal Jesus had with his disciples on Thursday night.
There are only 17 verses that describe the six hours Jesus spent on the cross.
So on this Good Friday, let’s focus on what the gospels focus on. Jesus’ love for us.
When Jesus and his disciples gathered in that upper room, the first thing He did, according to John, is wash the disciples feet: “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
He washed Peter’s feet— the one who would deny Him.
He washed Thomas’s feet— the one who would doubt Him.
He washed Andrew’s feet, Philip’s, both James’s, Bartholomew’s, Simon the Zealot’s, Matthew’s, the other Judas’s feet— all the ones who fled the garden, leaving only John to bear witness at the foot of the cross.
And yes, He washed the feet of Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
Then He told His disciples to love one another.
He told them that He was going to prepare a place for them, so that they could be together always.
He told them that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one would come to the Father except through him.
He told them He would not leave them as orphans.
He told them to abide in Jesus— remain in Him. Follow Him. In fact, while we are paying attention to what Jesus emphasized, don’t miss the fact that Jesus used the phrase “abide in me” sixty seven times throughout the gospel of John.
He told them that Greater Love has no one than this— that a man lay down His life for his friends.
He used the Greek word for “abide” sixty-seven times.
As we go into a time of communion, I want to to consider your own relationship with Jesus. Good Friday is not about His torture. It’s about His love. If it was just about the torture of Jesus, you would never be able to call it good Friday. You would never be able to sing about the wonderful cross, or how you cherish the old rugged cross.
In the late 1800’s a woman in Philadelphia named Eliza Hewitt, who was educated and worked as a teacher, developed a spinal condition that forced her to leave teaching and made her a bedridden shut in until she died in 1920.
But she still wanted to be of use to her church, so she began to write poems and hymns for children. Maybe she understood that her audience of little ones couldn’t handle all the graphic details of the suffering of Jesus. So in her best known hymn, she kept it simple:
My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.
Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.
let’s pray.
