Good Friday (2022)

There Goes your Friend, Dying for You

The Cross is our Theology. Paul tells the Church in Corinth that we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the jews and foolishness to the gentiles. For what we claim is that there upon the Cross is the Son of God, who was smitten, stricken and afflicted not for anything that He had done, but for what you and I have done and failed to do.

When we talk about sins, we try to downplay or treat them as though they are insignificant and inconsequential. We don’t weigh the cost, and we think that forgiveness is free, but on this day we remember that forgiveness while freely given was not freely won.

Our sins are in actuality a debt that we owe to God, for we have violated His divine command and rejected Him as our creator. Most people think that they can handle it by making up for what they have done wrong in this life. If they try hard enough or take care of the person that we can solve this problem on our own. But we don’t treat or consider sin in the same way that God does for it angers him and He hates sin. We minimize it to make it manageable, but Jesus teaches us what sin really is.

He explains that murder isn’t just what your hands do, it happens every time you hate your neighbor, you call them an idiot, God condemns that. The commandments condemn us thoroughly, and we try to say. People try to turn God into something other than He is because the Side of Him that is Holy, Good and the Just must punish sin. That means He must punish Sin, His Holiness cannot tolerate it to exist, His Goodness cannot let it go unanswered, and His Justice means that He must condemn sinners to Hell.

So what are you to do? You have complained about what God has given you and coveted more? You who have thoughtlessly taken His name in vain? You who have broken the sabbath? You who have spoken ill of presidents you don’t like? You who have lusted, lied, and stolen? You who in your pride thought that you had done enough or at least better than your neighbor? You who thought it was so simple? Your debt must be settled. The cost will kill not just temporally but eternally.

Now this debt is insurmountable when you see it, indeed when we try to repay you realize that all your attempts to make it up to God, were laughable for what were you going to offer to him, your sin filled heart, your sin stained hands, or try to call upon his name after you had used those same lips to take his name in vain? How can you appease God who hates sin when you are stained with inside and out.

But that is why we are here tonight, because there is one who called us friend, when we had no love for him, one who took upon himself your sins that He might pay your debt and suffer for you. Even though you didn’t know Him or care about Him, He loves you.

See this day, as Jesus takes upon Himself all of your debt, and becomes sin in your place that you might walk away free. The thorns that pierce his brow are your evil thoughts, the nails that were driven into him are the sins that your hands commit, and when he was slapped in the face, beaten with rods and soldiers flayed his back, that was supposed to be you, but instead He suffering there because of your sin.

Now if Jesus had done something wrong to us, we might justify it, but what has my Lord done? Jesus was good, and all the things that we ourselves are supposed to be, and yet God has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. We watch him accept this suffering, suffering that was meant for you, God lays upon Him. Suffering He bears according to God’s will, for it was the will of the Lord to crush him unto death for your sins.

Forgiveness is freely given, but it was not free, it required blood, and only the blood of the Son of God was enough to pay for your sins. That is what it takes to pay your sins, the sinless Son of God had to be abandoned by Father as He became sin for you. It was a price you could not pay no matter how hard you might try. It was the only way that you might be free from your sins.

So why did Jesus come, why did He suffer all of these things, and submitted even unto death for foolish debtors who even knowing the cost of sin, continued to rack up debt? It’s because He considers you, His dear friend. He saw what your end would be, and that you could not pay the debt that you owed to God. So Jesus came down from heaven and said, I will accept their debt as my own. I will pay what they owe, I will suffer the loss, and I will even go into hell for them.

Now if friend buys us lunch that is nice, if they were to help us make a car payment even greater still, but a friend who he sees you in trouble and jumps into danger for you, that friend loves you. There was no way that you could pay the debt you owed to God, no way you could satisfy what God had demanded of you, and so when the wrath of God swept down from heaven to crush you, destroy you, Jesus’ arms were spread out wide as sheltered you, as furious storm ripped open his back and stripped away his life, He didn’t want that to be you. For He consider you his friend.

There is nothing we can do to repay him for what He has done, and what He continues to do for our sake, but we can give thanks and tell the world of this great and glorious friend. For what better friend is there than one who has laid down His life for you. We want the whole world to know of this friend and gladly go forth and share this wondrous message with everyone.

This is why the Cross is our Theology, for here we realize how awful our sins are, we learn of Christ’s love for us as He bears our sins asking the Father to forgive us, and it gives to courage and strength in this world to not continue in sin, but to love others as Christ loved us. For what is a bit of suffering for the sake of my neighbor compared to what Christ suffered for me. I would urge you to look at the cross and see who is there, Jesus Christ, true Son of God, who calls you his friend, who suffered for you, He bled for you, and He died for you that you might live eternally. Even though that forgiveness cost him much, He was willing to pay it for he loves you. Let us take a moment to reflect on this in silence. In Jesus name. Amen.