Good Friday 2022

Good Friday Order of Service 2022

-Worship: Opening Song

-Welcome & Invocation:

-Anointed for Death: Bethany

Matthew 26:6-13

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-Betrayed: Ruth

Matthew 26:14-16

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-The Passover Meal: Dave

Matthew 26:17–19; 26-30

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

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While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Every year faithful Jewish people from all over would make a pilgrimage to Israel to celebrate one of the major festivals. Jerusalem would swell with people.

The passover festival was one of the biggest, it commemorated a time when God was judging pharoah in Egypt with a series of 10 plagues. Each of the first 9 plagues only affected the Egyptians but the 10th plague affected everyone...

It was the plague of the firstborn...

Because Egypt was holding God’s firstborn captive God would take the life of all of the firstborn’s in the land. The only way to be saved was to take an unblemished lamb and to sacrifice it in your place...

To take the blood of that lamb and wipe it above the doorpost…And thus you were saved from death by the blood of the lamb

In addition to that it wasn't just that you were saved from death, but then the Israelites became free after this meal as well

And ever year the Jews would gather to have this meal to declare that they were saved by the blood of the lamb.

Little did they know that they would be eating this meal with the true lamb of God.

When Jesus gave instructions to plan for this meal, it revealed that he was fully in control. Jesus knew that this would be his last meal. It was just another step toward the cross.

He would complete the mission that his father gave him

The appointed time for him was near.

But then Jesus would redefine the meal that they were eating together

For thousands of years this meal symbolized the time that God saved his people from an oppressive leader…But now Jesus will utterly redefine this meal. Because this meal was now about consuming the life of the living God.

Jesus would say that it is actually his body that would be broken for them, it is his blood that would be poured out for them

And the bread was familiar to them, it was used in the passover ceremony

But then Jesus would lift the cup and declare that this cup was his blood…It was his blood that was a new covenant poured out for the sins of the world

It was his body that would free them from the ultimate slavery of sin

I have often wondered: FOR the disciples who were there at this meal…Who had not yet seen their messiah bear the cross...

Was this meal powerful in its significance when Jesus was doing it…or did it take on a whole new meaning when they saw their messiah hanging on the cross, with his blood poured out

And I wonder for us too

You are now invited to the table of Jesus

When you approach the table of Jesus you eat with one who bore the full weight of your sin

You are invited to the table

When you approach this meal do you realize that you are eating of the living God?

Take Communion

He is the passover lamb

His blood is on the doorpost of the universe

With the finishing of this meal it was yet another step toward the cross.

The lamb of God the light of the would, would soon be extinguished…The disciples sitting around that table did not yet know that darkness couldn’t contain him...

But with this meal, Jesus walked one step closer to darkness

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-Communion: Dave

-Worship & reflection: One Song

-Denied: Evan

Matthew 26:69-74

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-Worship & Reflection: One Song

-Jesus on Trial: Beth Hieb

Matthew 26:57-68

Matthew 27:1-2;11-14;22-23

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-Beaten & Mocked: Jeremiah Wenneker

Matthew 27:27-31

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Crucifixion & Death: Dave

Matthew 27:32–44 NIV

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The New International Version Chapter 27

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). y

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

You know, reading this this week I had a couple of just fresh insights that I wanted to share with you

And the biggest one is this.

I have often preached along with multitudes of others that a Holy God can not be in the presence of sin

While I still believe that Our God wants to purify us and cleanse us of all sin

I realized this week that one of the main criticisms of the pharisees was that he eats with sinners,

When he was crucified he had two other criminals on his right and his left

When he was carrying his cross he had mockers all around him

Jesus’ entire ministry was to be in the presence of a sinful people showing them the way and on the cross he is in the middle of sin, bearing all of our sin

Jesus on the cross is the greatest picture we have of a God who is fully in love with a sinful humanity. Beckoning us toward him

So a Holy God can not be in the presence of sin…I don’t know now…Tell that to Jesus on the cross

Every moment of Jesus on the cross is symbolically impotrant.

From the soldiers gambling for Jesus’ clothes to the drinking of wine mixed with vinegar

But I want to point out when Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

I think we have tended to look at Jesus saying this as God turning his back on his son on the cross because he couldn’t bear to see the sin that was heaped onto his son at the moment.

But I have a different theory of what Jesus was doing.

Often Rabbi’s had a call and response system of training their disciples.

So this is where. A rabbi would say the first few lines of a Psalm…And then the disciples would repeat the rest of the Psalm.

What If Jesus was showing his disciples that this moment must take place?

The New International Version Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the one Israel praises. z

4 In you our ancestors put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

5 To you they cried out and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8 “He trusts in the LORD,” they say,

“let the LORD rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

10 From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13 Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

14 I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they pierce g my hands and my feet.

17 All my bones are on display;

people stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.

19 But you, LORD, do not be far from me.

You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver me from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my people;

in the assembly I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or scorned

the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him

but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.

26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek the LORD will praise him—

may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD

and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness,

declaring to a people yet unborn:

He has done it!

What if Jesus on the cross is a picture of a Holy God standing in the middle of a sinful people....Redeeming them…And reminding them that even though he is dying on the cross

Dominion belongs to the Lord

That he has done it

And with that. Jesus gave his last breath…For it was not taken from him…he gave it

And darkness covered the earth

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-Worship & Reflection: One Song

-Benediction: Dave