Good Friday 2021

Welcome!

Rouan (Duty Elder)

The Easter Appeal

The Lord’s Greeting

“Grace to you, and Peace ...

Mark 15:1–5 CSB

1 As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” 5 But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

1. Jesus before Pilate

As soon as it was morning

(after the night before … Jesus betrayed)

And now, as Jesus is standing before Pilate, Jesus prophecy has come to realisation:

Mark 10:32–34 CSB

32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him. 33 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”

The Question! (“Are you the King of the Jews?”)

From Pilate, a legal question, but a question none the less! (If only he knew …)

And where was Peter when this was taking place?

He could have been a character witness for Jesus!

After all, he was quite sure he had come to know Jesus for who he was!

Remember when Jesus asked him: Who do you say I am?

Mark 8:29 CSB

29 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

Now, Pilate is in fact saying … asking ...

Did Peter get it right?

(If he did, why isn’t he here to testify on your behalf?)

Friends, in times to come, increasingly so now

we will have the opportunity to say:

Jesus is my Saviour

Jesus is my Lord

May God strengthen me so that anyone can see, by how I live, that … Jesus is my Lord and Saviour!

But, of course,m for that to happen, we need to believe it!

And if we believe it, it will be visible

in our way of living

in our friendships

in the way we raise our children

in the way we respect one another, men and women alike!

Jesus’ lifestyle was one display, everyday, as he made his way to Jerusalem, for that all important mission!

To defend to the death - His own Death! -

that we are to live lives that would show .. that we believe, “Jesus is Lord!”

But now, it is Pilate, who seeks an answer:

Mark 15:2 CSB

2 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”

Jesus answers Pilate: “You say so!”

Jesus is saying:

Your mouth has said the words your heart denies!

No longer should it be a secret!

(Remember how Jesus all along their journey to Jerusalem, asked his followers not to proclaim His miracles?

Now, the secret is out!

It has to be, be, because , at every step of the way, even now as Jesus is being mocked; spat on; beaten, ridiculed ...

everything is happening as the prophets said it would; everything, even nature is about to display that Jesus is Lord!

It will be seen in the sign that the Jews put up to mock Jesus!

it will be displayed in brilliance, in the darkness that would soon come on the earth

it will be sounded out as the curtain in the temple, rips down the middle with the sound of tearing, as if the heaven itself was torn open!

Am I the King of the Jews?

“YES, I AM”

But like a public prosecutor leaving not one stone unturned to secure a conviction of a man against there is at best a very flimsy case, hardly any evidence that Jesus came to overthrow the Roman empire ...

Mark 15:3 CSB

3 And the chief priests accused him of many things.

And Pilate, he seems not to be convinced so much by the frantic fervour of the chief-priests’ accusations.

So he asks again:

Mark 15:4 CSB

4 Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!”

but...

Mark 15:5 CSB

5 But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

Now, almost certainly unconvinced that Jesus was guilty of the crimes he was being charged with - which, by the way, is an accusation of pretending to be who He was not - Pilate tries another exit strategy for Jesus :

SING: VERSE ONE - “WERE YOU THERE?”

2. “Crucify Him!”

Mark 15:6–9 CSB

6 At the festival Pilate used to release for the people a prisoner whom they requested. 7 There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion. 8 The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. 9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?”

(It is the crowd that asks)

The crowd that Jesus fed!

The crowd that started flocking to Jesus when He was useful to them!

But now, under the instigation of the Chief Priests,

Mark 15:11–15 CSB

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead. 12 Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” 13 Again they shouted, “Crucify him!” 14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” 15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

Onward, to Jerusalem and Golgotha

Mark 15:16–20 CSB

16 The soldiers led him away into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) and called the whole company together. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 They were hitting him on the head with a stick and spitting on him. Getting down on their knees, they were paying him homage. 20 After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his clothes on him. They led him out to crucify him.

SING: VERSE 2 - “WHERE YOU THERE?”

The Crucifixion

Mark 15:21–32 CSB

21 They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull). 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would get. 25 Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge written against him was: The King of the Jews. 27 They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself by coming down from the cross!” 31 In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.

SING: VERSE THREE - “WERE YOU THERE!”

Jesus Dies!

Mark 15:33–41 CSB

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “See, he’s calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered him a drink, and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.” 37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women followed him and took care of him. Many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem.

And the journey has come to an end ...

Or is it the beginning?

What was it again that Jesus said would happen?

Mark 10:34 CSB

34 and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”

Amen

Benediction

Sing: Doxology!