Good Friday Matthew 27:27-61

Hello! And welcome to our Good Friday Message. This is my first official service with you as minister at Oldfield and what an auspicious one to do. I hope you are all well, and I hope it will be a good Friday for you as well as the weekend.

On Sunday we will celebrate in-person at Oldfield however if you are not able to make it the service will be live on YouTube and on Zoom.

Let us now focus upon Jesus, the Author, Founder and Finisher of our faith:

Let us sing our first song: There is a green hill

We are now going to read a substantial chunk of Matthew 27:

Matthew 27:27–61 NKJV

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. 28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. 32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. 35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” 36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS 38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. 39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. 45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. 49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. 57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

2nd Song: Old Rugged Cross

We have read through the 27th chapter of Matthew…so many things have happened… and all exactly according to what was prophesied. We should recognise that the sequence of events from the moment Judas wanted to betray his close friend for money until that moment he was laid in a borrowed tomb was not something that Jesus could have orchestrated – it was outside of His control – but it was still the plan of God. The greatest, I think, of these prophecies is Isaiah 52:13-53:12 written some 700 years beforehand and which I invite you to check plainly it is Jesus spoken of there.

It is interesting that we call this day ‘Good Friday’ – there are other labelled Fridays – black Friday, Friday the 13th, TGI Fridays and so on. So what makes what should really be called ‘Darkest Friday’ or “Worst Friday” Good Friday?

After all

· Being betrayed by a friend could not be called good.

· Being flogged cannot be called good.

· Being mocked cannot be called good.

· Being crucified cannot be called good.

What kind of a person called this “Good Friday”?

It was not a good day because the enemy Satan succeeded in causing religious leaders, political leaders and ordinary folk to condemn an innocent man to death without a second’s thought –

a man who had healed many of their sick,

raised people from the dead,

fed the crowds

taught good things

surely this is darkest Friday, a day that should live in infamy for the appalling way that humans treat others.

That would be despicable on its own but they knew that Jesus was no ordinary man – even in this passage it was known that Jesus claimed to be God’s son and everything about him proved it. If Jesus had committed a criminal act then there is reason for their madness but no one had even known Jesus to do anything wrong at any time.

Why do bad things happen to good people? How do people do the kinds of things that they do to people? Why is God blamed when bad things happen? (By the way isn’t it curious that people don’t blame God when good things happen?) If God knows about all the bad, all the evil, then why doesn’t he stop it? And if he knew that His Son would die at His creation’s hands why did He allow it?

Sin is the answer to all those questions. God has given us the power of choice and so God uses our choices to accomplish his plan. He is no God who forces people to do his will and purpose but along with the foreknowledge of God His overall plan comes to pass. God’s will is accomplished in the end.

Sin is the reason for evil in this world, starting at the Garden of Eden, then with Abel’s murder, and continuing at work through the devil and in the world and in all people including us. Sin, our very nature is evil, there is no good thing in our flesh, we think about sin, we commit sin, and we don’t do the things we should…it is evidenced in our lives day-by-day, our every thought is to do our own thing rather than God’s, I did it my way and God says enough! There is hell to pay – death is the wages of sin.

And so judgment has been passed on all humankind just as in the days of Noah – everyone including us are all under God’s judgment – there is no escape for the wages of sin is death and we have been busy earning it. And like on that dark Friday, dark at midday until 3 in the afternoon death came to the Prince of hope and hope was lost.

The disciples on the Emmaus Road had lost all hope…the death of Jesus was a surprise…their saviour, their prophet, their deliverer crucified on a tree…there’s no hope here…

That dark Friday was the day when judgment was passed upon God’s Son – an inexplicable exchange took place – the goodness of God was replaced by sin itself. Jesus became sin.

Hear what Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And God judged sin and Jesus as deserving of death. No wonder Jesus cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”

The person who came up with it being called Good Friday, which it seems is derived from ‘God’s Friday’ in the same way as good-bye is derived from God be with ye, how did they come up with this designation? So, was it God’s Friday? What made it so?

The day the enemy thought that he had won an ultimate triumph against God was soon to turn out to be a hollow victory for he thought he won the war but had not even won a skirmish – God had counted upon humankind’s evil way and the devil’s provocation – he knew that as they had killed the prophets before they would kill the Son. The devil and his demons knew who Jesus was and from the first moment he was revealed at his baptism by John the Baptist. From then on the slanderer, the devil, Satan had it in for him.

We are all deserving of death for that is the sentence that has been passed but now,

somehow, on this dark Friday, we have been given the goodness of Christ making us perfect before God,

somehow we were crucified with Christ,

somehow that desertion of His son by the Father has led to the promise that we will never be alone,

somehow we have been accepted and somehow we have been given eternal life in this exchange called redemption.

somehow, just as the world was formally condemned in the days of Noah, and Noah was saved, there is a way to be saved today.

somehow, just as in the video we saw last Sunday, the curse of sin has been reversed.

The blood of Jesus was enough because the blood of Jesus was Divine, born of a virgin and not of an earthly father…we know that the blood line of the first Adam was tainted with sin from the moment he sinned and it got in his genes…it is through the father that our human nature called sin is passed on. Which is another reason to believe the story of Genesis literally as it is the only explanation logical to understand why Jesus went to the cross and be born of a virgin because the Father was God Himself cutting the sin line once and for all

…Jesus was born without sin and never committed any sin, a lamb without blemish was offered as a sin offering as a lamb, the lamb of God who was completely innocent. Sin has to be judged and judged rightly…and Jesus was willing to take our our wages; our earnings; and take our place. And because of this we are declared righteous – because of this we are no longer under judgment – because of this we have eternal life!

Whoever’s idea it was to call it ‘Good Friday’ or ‘God’s Friday’ was a genius – our lives are saved all because of that dark day which we think was Friday the 3rd April 33A.D. He did it because he loved us, he loved you, he loved me – oh wonders!

But it did not end there on that day when he died and was buried in a tomb once and for all. For Friday is here BUT Sunday is coming! Yes, Sunday, is a-coming!

We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of all that Jesus has done for us. I’d like to read a poem I wrote a couple of years ago for Good Friday:

It is high noon when day is bright

But instead becomes dark as night

Something is being forbidden

The Son of God being hidden

From curious people besides

From His Father’s face also hides

Three hours later horrendous cry

Abandoned! Oh why, why, why, why?

Deep sorrows and desolation

The why of His incarnation.

He had come for this very hour

Giving up heavenly power

He became sin personified

God’s wrath and justice satisfied

The thorned crown declares: He is King!

It is finished! Done everything!

Hanging upon the crimson tree

“My Spirit I commit to thee”

The hanging temple curtain torn

The day again begins to dawn.

(Ian)

It is on Sunday we realise that the victory has truly been won.

Romans 5:10 NKJV

10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

We give our lives back in thanks to Him who saves us and has given us eternal life. There was a day in 1985 or 86 that I committed my life to Jesus. Was there a day for you? Or is today that day? Is this going to be your Good Friday? The rest of us can make this a Good Friday too by recommitting our lives to Him, putting aside the sin that is so offensive to God, and love our Saviour with renewed passion; with renewed joy because of His great love for us.

And so it is that we now come to communion to remember again all that Jesus did for us on that particular day and hour that He was born for. So, let us prepare our hearts and join in singing:

SONG: How deep the Father’s love

Communion

I am going to read the usual passage from 1 Corinthians 11 - and will pause at each part and we will partake together of the bread and wine.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Song: The power of the cross

Let us pray:

Dear God,

We remember today, the pain and suffering of the cross, and all that Jesus was willing to endure, so we could be set free. He paid the price, such a great sacrifice, to offer us the gift of eternal life.

Help us never to take for granted this huge gift of love on our behalf. Help us to be reminded of the cost of it all. Forgive us for being too busy, or distracted by other things, for not fully recognising what you freely given, what you have done for us. We ask you into our lives again.

Thank you Lord that by your wounds we are healed. Thank you that because of your huge sacrifice we can live free. Thank you that sin and death have been conquered, and that your Power is everlasting.

Thank you that we can say with great hope, “It is finished…” For we know what’s still to come. And death has lost its sting. We praise you for you are making all things new. This indeed is a Good Friday.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Benediction

Now may the peace of God that passes understanding keep and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and in the love of God. Amen.