06 Good Friday Sermon
What is good about Good Friday? I remember thinking that on my way to church as a kid. I didn’t get it. We call the day good, but it is really so very sad. Why don’t we call it sad Friday? Because it feels more “sad” than good doesn’t it? And yet here we are praising our God on Good Friday.
What is good about Good Friday? It is the day the our sins have been paid for. It is the day of our salvation. It is the day that our God showed his undying love for us, by dying on a cross. Because of this day we have forgiveness and a relationship with our God. That is certainly very very good. For we have been purchased and redeemed, not with gold or silver, but with the holy precious blood and the innocent suffering and death of our savior Jesus. That is certainly good.
What is good about Good Friday? Well, because of Good Friday, Christmas and Easter have meaning. They are special days. If there were no Good Friday, There would be no Easter. No hope of resurrection and new creation. If there were no Good Friday Christmas would be just another day in the calendar. There would be no salvific significance to it. But there is. And that is certainly good.
What is good about Good Friday? It is a time that reminds us of the immense value of human life. Because it is for our sake that Jesus, who, though he was in form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. And he did this, not just from some people, but for all of us. That is certainly good.
I guess for us it is easy to hear the story and let it become normal, common and nothing new. When we get so used to it, that we forget all that is happening and the rich and wonderful meaning and significance that is there, then it is easy for Good Friday to be anything but good. And when that happens it is certainly not good.
Today is Good Friday, not new Friday, but good Friday. And so even though the story does not change, that does not make it any less good. So in the midst of the passion reading that is taking place today, I thought it might be good for us to look outside that story and read a piece of scripture that has been closely associated with Jesus and his passion for a very very long time.
Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 13 See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. 14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him-- so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals-- 15 so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. 1Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. 9 They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall prosper. 11 Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Do you see Good Friday in this text? It is all over the place. And it is beautiful and wonderful and I absolutely love it. My servant shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. I wrote a paper on this for one of my classes. And the gist of the paper is this. Here we see the words exalted and lifted up. Isaiah uses these words in a very particular way, especially as he speaks about Yahweh. He only uses them in this certain way when he is talking about Yahweh, and here he uses those same words as he talks about the servant. The conclusion? The servant is Yahweh himself. That is certainly Good.
Chapter 53 begins with the questions, Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The arm of the lord is another specific Old Testament phrase that is used to talk about the saving work of our God. It takes us back to the story of the Exodus and how our God stretched out his mighty arm and led the children of Israel out of slavery into freedom. Do you see the connection here? As God’s arm is stretched out on Good Friday, we are taken out of slavery to sin, death and the devil and led into the freedom that is life eternal with our God. That is certainly Good.
We hear this thought echoed again in verse 5. But he was wounded for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that mad us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. Our God took upon himself, the punishment that we deserve for our sins. The pain and suffering that should have been given to us, he took upon himself. And so, because our God took this punishment, we then receive healing and restoration. We find life and a life that will never end. In Christ we live as we were meant to live, and to know God the way that he wants us to know him. This is certainly Good.
His life was make an offering for sin. The servant, the righteous one, bore our iniquities and has made many righteous. We are made righteous, not because of the things that we do. Not because of the way that we live or the good deeds that we do. Not because we support the right causes and give enough money. Not because we haven’t done anything too terribly bad. And not even because we go to church. But we are made righteous because of Jesus, the servant spoken of by Isaiah. We are made righteous because our iniquities have been laid on him, and by he paid the price for our sins.
And in him we have life and are able to go live that life and share this news. This news is certainly Good. There would be no news, if there were no Good Friday. Yes this day is certainly a good day. And may our Lord bless us and keep us in the true life that is found in him alone. Now and always. Amen.