Good Friday
Dear friends in Christ. Today we come to the most solemn day of the Christian calendar—Good Friday. Today we remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. His suffering and death did not happen in a vacuum but was the culmination of a series of events which David describes in Psalm 2: The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. Just the events of Good Friday morning included: Jesus on trial before the Jews who then handed Him off to Pilate and trials before him; there was the rejection of the people who chose the insurrectionist and murderer—or as we’d say today, “terrorist” Barabbas; we had the soldiers whip Jesus and mock, ridicule, blaspheme Him. Then we have the words right before our text: and [the soldiers] led Him out to crucify Him. Here the sinless God-Man is led away as the worst of the criminals—even a terrorist is preferred to Him—and to face the most horrible of deaths—deaths by crucifixion.
Then our text begins: Now they compelled a certain man passing by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to take up His cross. The soldiers had the right to force into service any person they chose. And here they chose Simon, a man from the North African coastal city of Cyrene, right below Greece, part of modern day Libya. There were many Jews in this city and many of them would come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Since Jerusalem itself was probably full of pilgrims, Simon was probably staying in the country and he was coming into Jerusalem for the morning service in the temple when the Roman soldiers made him carry the cross of Jesus.
Just think how Simon must have felt! Here was certainly a devout Jew—since he was in Jerusalem for the Passover—and now he was being forced by the Roman soldiers to carry the cross of what he must have thought was the worst of the worst of the criminals. Like any good Jew would, Simon would have regarded the cross as an accursed thing. He would have considered it a shameful thing to have to carry the cross, the symbol and emblem of torture, for a condemned criminal. To carry Jesus’ cross was something Simon must have done unwillingly: they compelled [him].
But how Simon’s attitude must have changed! What he was forced to do—carry Christ’s cross—certainly changed his life. His encounter with Christ that first Good Friday completely changed him. Notice how St. Mark describes Simon: the father of Alexander and Rufus. Why would he write that, unless Alexander and Rufus were well known to the Christians—probably in Rome—to whom he was writing? In fact, in his epistle to the Romans, St. Paul mentions a Rufus and his mother—perhaps the same one, perhaps not. But the point is clear Simon’s sons were Christians. So what does that mean but that chance encounter that day of Simon and Jesus had a profound effect on Simon. Ultimately, through that and what Simon certainly later heard and perhaps saw, the Holy Spirit worked faith in Jesus in Simon’s heart.
How strange it was: Simon was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover—and there before him was the true Passover Lamb, Jesus—by Whose blood we are rescued from sin and death. How strange it was: Simon was probably going into Jerusalem for the morning sacrifice and here he passes and ends up carrying the altar for Jesus, the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world; the One to which all the other sacrifices pointed forward to.
May we, dear Christian, be like Simon. May we not pass by Christ this Good Friday and be unaffected. Instead, may this Good Friday affect and change us as deeply as the first Good Friday did Simon. Although we don’t carry Jesus’ cross like Simon did, how richly blessed we are as we ponder and take to heart this day Jesus and His suffering and death; as we ponder and take to heart that it was for the sins of the whole world—of all people from beginning to end—that Jesus was there suffering and dying; that it was it was for my sin that Jesus was on the cross suffering and dying.
On Good Friday we see both the depth of our sin and what our sin earns us and brings us—God’s wrath and damnation. And we see the love of God for us as the Father sent the Son to be our Savior; we see the love of the Son who obeyed His Father’s will and became true man and took our sins upon Himself to suffer for us, in our place, God’s wrath and punishment; we see the love of the Holy Spirit Who strengthened Jesus in offering up Himself as that one perfect sacrifice and Who called us to faith to receive the gifts and blessings Jesus won for us.
In short, dear Christian, on Good Friday we see both God’s absolute holiness and righteousness and His mercy and grace. Let us use this time we spend before the cross, especially today to truly ponder and reflect. As we see and ponder both on Good Friday, how can we pass by Christ this Good Friday and not be affected?!
Just as Simon met a beaten, bloodied and suffering Savior and yet, by the work of the Holy Spirit came to recognize Jesus as his Savior and the Savior of the world; came to recognize Jesus as the very Son of God and the almighty, eternal King setting up His kingdom by His suffering and enthronement on the cross, so too by the work of blessing of the Holy Spirit this Good Friday, may we rightly recognize the suffering Jesus as our God, Savior and King.
Now they compelled a certain man passing by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to take up His cross. The soldiers didn’t do that out of mercy toward Jesus; they weren’t being “nice” to Him. Instead, they had an execution to carry out and Jesus was too weak, certainly stumbling, certainly going at a snail’s pace—maybe they feared He might even die before they could carry out their orders to crucify Him. To put it all differently, Jesus’ physical condition was serving as a hindrance and delay to the execution.
But even Jesus’ physical suffering is something that we do well to ponder this Good Friday since it serves to strengthen our faith because it points us to Who Jesus really is! The fact that Jesus was actually physically suffering shows us that Jesus is true man, a true human being. If Jesus were just God alone, not both God and man, He couldn’t suffer. He’d have no flesh to be whipped or to have a crown of thorns pressed into; He’d have no blood to shed; He’d be nothing but pure glory and majesty Whom no one could see and yet live. But for us and our salvation He, the true God, the Son, the Second Person of the blessed and holy Trinity became also a true man; He became also one of us so that He could be our Savior. Because Jesus is not only true God but also true man, He could be our Substitute and for us and in our place obey God’s holy Law. The Law that we break day in and day out, Jesus has perfectly kept for us as our Substitute. The holy Law of God that He demands to be kept if heaven is to be open has been kept—by Jesus for us! The fact of Jesus’ suffering, of being so weakened physically that He could not carry His cross any further, teaches us that He is true man.
Yet, Jesus’ suffering, His faltering and stumbling under the weight of the cross; His whippings and beatings; even His very crucifixion itself—all these physical sufferings—as horrible as they are, are not the worst of the worst sufferings. His greatest suffering was bearing the weight of the sins of the world, of being forsaken by the Father and suffering the very pangs of hell. Here, as we see Jesus’ physical sufferings, may we direct our attention to His even greater spiritual sufferings, the sufferings of His soul! Who, this side of eternity, can imagine even in the slightest what spiritual sufferings Jesus was enduring? Even before the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday—already on Palm Sunday Jesus said [Jn 12.27; Mt. 26.38], Now My soul is troubled, and in Gethsemane Jesus in even greater spiritual anguish told His disciples: My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Now, on His way to the cross and then on the cross as we see Jesus’ physical suffering, let us turn our attention to His spiritual suffering. Here He was marked as the world’s sinner, as all sinners in one. Here God’s entire wrath over sin was poured out on Him; here He was enduring all of the punishment from God that our sins rightly bring us. Our Good Friday meditations do us no good if we merely stop with Jesus’ physical suffering and if these move us to tears and sorrow. Instead, let Jesus’ physical sufferings lead us to ponder His sufferings we cannot see. Let the thought of Jesus’ suffering—loaded down with our sins and marked as the world’s sinner—bring us to recognize what a serious thing our sins are and to recognize His love for us sinners and that He is our Savior from that sin as He endured the punishment for that sin. May that move us to recognize our sin, sorrow over our sin and put our trust in Him for forgiveness of those sins, peace with God, righteousness and heaven—in short, our life and salvation.
And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a skull. Simon could only carry the cross so far. Jesus had to do the work for the salvation of the world alone—and He was the only one who could. And praise be to God that Jesus could and did.
On top of that, it wasn’t as if somehow being God the Son, Jesus could somehow “get off easy.” Instead, He had to and did bear the full brunt of the Father’s wrath over sin and its punishment. The Holy Spirit makes this clear in our text: And they were offering Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. The myrrh mixed with wine served as a narcotic, deadening consciousness. Again, it wasn’t as if the soldiers were being “nice”. Rather, it made the condemned easier to control for crucifying purposes. Notice, they kept offering it to Jesus but He did not take it.
What a wondrous thing for us to ponder this Good Friday! Here too we see that Jesus did not “skip any corners” while bringing about the salvation of the world. Here we see that Jesus was nailed to the cross without any drugs, without any alleviation of the pain. What a glorious picture to us teaching us that as He endured the sufferings with full consciousness He was experiencing in full force the Law’s full punishment for the sin of the world! Therefore, let us never have any doubt in our mind and heart as to whether that sin that we commit, that we feel, that we confess has been paid for by Christ. It has! He bore the full pain of it—physically and for our salvation. What great lengths our Lord went to to assure us that He paid the full price for our sin—refusing anything that might lead us to question/ think that maybe there’s some little part of that sin that’s not fully paid for, that we haven’t been completely reconciled to God. Here we see the truth of what Jesus said [Jn 18.11]: Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me? Jesus most willingly drank to the very bottom and drained that bitter cup of suffering that the Father, the righteous Judge, put to His lips. Jesus was not spared any pain or agony ordained as the ransom price for sinners. He paid the full price enduring all the pains of body and the bitterest pangs of soul—all for us and our salvation! Jesus looked death straight in the face—and as we see on Easter—won! INJ Amen