The King and the Cross – Good Friday
In this somber Good Friday service, we pause to listen to the Gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus’ final day on earth. The message walks through the heavy moments of the Passion—from the trial before Pilate and the release of Barabbas to the cruel mockery of the Roman battalion.
This reflection challenges us to look closely at the "broken body and poured-out blood" that was first remembered at the Lord's Supper the night before. It is a call to become deeply aware of the suffering Jesus endured so that we could be forgiven and "brought home" to the Father. Join us as we reflect on the weight of the cross and the magnitude of the sacrifice that secured our salvation.
Key Topics:
The Choice of the Crowd: Exploring Pilate’s attempt to satisfy the crowd by releasing Barabbas and delivering Jesus to be crucified.
The Mockery of the Soldiers: A look at the battalion's use of a purple cloak and a crown of thorns to humiliate the "King of the Jews".
The Road to Golgotha: The significance of Simon of Cyrene and the arrival at the "Place of a Skull".
The Lord’s Supper Connection: How the symbols of the bread and cup from the previous night find their fulfillment on the cross.
The Purpose of Suffering: Understanding that Christ’s physical and spiritual endurance was the necessary price for our forgiveness.
Listen to the words of Mark as he recounts Jesus' last day on the earth. He said. And Pilate again said to them, then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace. And they called together the whole battalion, and they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns. They put it on him. And they began to salute him. Hail, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down and homage to him. When they had mocked him. They stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they let him out to crucify him. They compelled a passer by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means place of a Skull. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it, and they crucified him, and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take. And it was the 3rd hour when they crucified him, and the inscription of the charge against him read, the king of the Jews. And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on his right, and one on his left, and those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, aha, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days, save yourself, and come down from the cross. So also the chief priest with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, he saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Those who are crucified with him, also reviled him. This is how the story of Jesus' life on this earth ended. But we know that's not the end of the story and it's not the beginning of the story either. The story begins when God created this world. and put Adam and Eve in charge as the stewards of creation, and they turn their back on God. They turn their back on life itself. And each of us in this room have done the same thing. We had rebelled against God. We mocked him. The very God who gives us life. Paul says that in him we live and move and have our being. The very God that sustains us. We as humans mock by a rebellion against him. Every lie I've told, every thought that is dishonoring to God, every action I've done, this dishonoring God, allowed me to breathe in and breathe out. He kept me alive in my rebellion against him. And he promised. At the very beginning of scripture, when Adam and Eve rebelled that it wasn't over, that the serpent who had crept into the garden wasn't going to get the last word. And the long story of God's redemption in history begins as he calls Abraham to raise up a nation, the nation of Israel that he would work through to save his creation. to bring his people back home. He said, it's going to be through a child, a son of Eve, that I fixed things, but there was no son of Eve that was born, that could do that until Christ was born, of the Virgin Mary. God, the son, becoming human. When we read the gospels, We see Jesus. who healed the blind. comforted those who were suffering, who for 3 years pointed people to God, revealed God's deep love for his creation. John says it this way. that God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him would not perish. That God sent his son into the world. And for 3 years, He brought a taste of what God's world would be like, of healing, in blessing and wholeness. But the darkness would have none of it. And they accused him of being a blasphemer. And they accused him of trying to rebel against the Roman Empire. And a false king, a false emperor puts the true king of the world on a cross. And we gather here tonight, on what's called Good Friday, to remember Jesus' suffering for us. to let the weight of that land on us. It's very easy in the light of the resurrection that we'll celebrate on Sunday to forget the darkness. Of Good Friday. The darkness of God himself in human form, taking upon himself the sin of the world. which seems so big and so vast. that we often miss that it's my sin. Your sin. Our sin. that Jesus took upon himself because of his deep love for us. for you. He endured the mocking as they put a purple robe on him, and put a crown of thorns on his head, and mocked him as king of the Jews, but that's what he was. That's who he was. They said, come down off the cross. If you want to save yourself. But Jesus' plan was not to save himself. It was to save us. And so he stayed on the cross, and he suffered. And he took the ridicule. He took the mocking. He took the stripes of the cat o' 9 tails. The suffering he endured. I imagine Isaiah 53 was in his mind. By his stripes, we are healed. that the iniquity of us all was placed on him. And as he hung there on the cross, knowing that he could have come off the cross, said, I can send 1000s upon 1000s of angels. But he had already prayed to his father. Not my will, but yours be done. And he stayed on the cross. Because of his love for you. His love for me is love for us. For God so loved, the world. Mark continues. It says, and when the 6th hour had come, There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloah, Eloah, lama, sabbatana, which means my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he is calling Elijah, and someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this was the Son of God. And when evening had come, since it was a day of preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea. A respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage, and went to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus. And Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the Centorian, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Matthew records it, as Jesus passed away. He said, it is finished. The plan from before the foundation of the world that God had set to redeem his rebellious stewards of creation, you and me. Jesus endures the shame of the cross, the pain of the cross, the suffering of the cross. And he says it is finished. Sin has been atoned for. In the death of Christ, death has been defeated. The devil has no more power. And it says the temple veil, tore in two. showing that entrance into God's presence is opened up for those who put their trust in Christ. But the story ends today with a stone being rolled across the tomb. And Jesus' body. inside. And his followers, Peter and James and Mary and Martha, devastated by what had happened. confused, lost, not knowing what to do, and they would spend the next day wondering. until Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection. But today, tonight, we remember the sacrifice and the suffering. Our worship team's going to come up and sing one more song. And when they're finished playing, we'll ask that you dismiss quietly. With Christ sacrifice on your mind. with the tomb on our mind, and then we will regather Sunday morning in celebration of his resurrection. Will you join me in prayer? Father, we gather here in this place tonight to remember your son's sacrifice for us. His broken body, his poured out blood, that we remembered last night in the Lord's Supper. Father, let us be aware of the deep sacrifice you made for us. The suffering you endured so that we can be brought home. that our sins can be forgiven. and that we can find what we were created for, which is to worship you and to know you. Father, we love you. Help us to be faithful by your spirit. It's in the name of your crucified Son, Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen.