Good Friday
THE FIRST STATION—Jesus is condemned to death—St. John 19. 6-7, 12, 16
In the midst of lies against and hatred of Jesus, the Jews stumble upon a truth—although not as they intended. After Pilate had declared that he found no fault in Jesus, certainly nothing worthy of death, we read: The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die... And that’s the truth: according to the Law Jesus ought to die. And why? Because of sin—but not His own sin but our sin. Jesus was condemned but He was innocent; but He was guilty before God according to the Law not for Himself but for us. This is just as was prophesied by the OT prophet Isaiah [53.4, 5]: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…He was wounded for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities. Here we see the full result, the consequence of sin—condemnation to death. The holy Apostle put it so clearly [Rm. 6.23]: The wages of sin is death. With the holy, innocent Jesus being condemned to death, we see that He has taken our sin on Himself that He might save us from our sin.
THE SECOND STATION—Jesus carries His Cross—St. Matthew 27.27-31; St. John 19.17
Crucifixion on the cross was the most shameful kind of torment. No one would willingly even want to touch a cross for fear of shame. When the cross was placed on Jesus, it was to make Him an object of mockery. With the cross placed on Jesus and as Jesus went through the streets it was thought that no one would even want to remember Jesus and so His name would be blotted out from the annals of history. But of course just the opposite happened, and why? –Because to call us to life, Jesus was led to death; to call us off the path of wickedness and on to the path to heaven, Jesus took the path to Golgotha; so that we could be counted among the holy, Jesus was numbered with the wicked.
THE THIRD STATION—Jesus falls the first time—Isaiah 53.4-6
Here we see that Jesus does not refuse physical suffering and that His suffering is real; it is not some phantom suffering but true suffering and agony that He is in. –And the worst is yet to come! Think of the weight of the cross beam of the cross He is carrying, is pressing on the wounds on His back from the beatings and whipping. Certainly each step was more agonizing than the one before it. Jesus is weak and injured and devoid of strength; the weight of the cross pressed Him to the ground. But Jesus is urged onward to Golgotha, to the place of crucifixion, by His longing and His fervent love for us. His burning love kept pressing Him on to suffer beyond His strength. What joy and comfort we receive when we see Jesus falling the first time. Nothing is going to stop Him from carrying out the work that He came to do—to save us from our sins and hell. May seeing Jesus fall instill in us a greater and more fervent love of Him so that we press on in our Christian life, no matter what obstacles and suffering we endure for it.
THE FOURTH STATION—Jesus meets His Mother—St. Luke 2. 34-35
Although the holy Gospel writers do not record this incident, we cannot doubt that St. Mary was there—after all, she was there at the foot of the cross even when all the disciples, except for St. John, had fled. When the Baby Jesus was 40 days old, Sts. Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple as the OT Law required. When there, St. Simeon took the Baby Jesus up in His arms and praised God for His faithfulness, for sending the long-promised Messiah. Then St. Simeon prophesies of St. Mary that she, too, would suffer: and a sword will pierce through your own soul also. And why? –Because many would reject Jesus. That prophecy was fulfilled that first Good Friday as Jesus was rejected by the Jews, the ones who should have most welcomed Him—He became a sign that is opposed–and was crucified. Mary, who had experienced the greatest joys and mysteries with Jesus’ conception and birth, who had witnessed His great miracles, who so deeply loved Him, was now in greatest anguish. As Christians, we too experience great joy in Jesus as we come to know and love Him as our Savior; but we too will be called upon to suffer on account of our faith; we too will be grieved beyond measure when we see our Lord, His word, His truth increasingly ridiculed, despised and hated.
THE FIFTH STATION—Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross—St. Luke 23.26
Here a stranger, probably one in town for the Passover celebration who didn’t even know who Jesus is, is pressed into service to carry Jesus’ cross. We see here that Jesus isn’t yet totally forsaken by the Father—that would come later on the cross. By this act of relief, is perhaps the Father indicating to Jesus that He is still His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased? Is the Father by this confirming to Jesus, His Son, that His trust in Him is not misplaced? Is this the Father strengthening the Son for what would be upcoming? To be sure, it may very well have been the case that that Jesus was not moving fast enough and the soldiers were trying to move things along. But it was still God who was in control of the events. The lesson for us in our lives, as we are in the midst of sorrow and suffering, is to look for the little blessings and graces of the Lord and let those, together with His promises to us in Scripture, strengthen and assure us.
THE SIXTH STATION—Veronica wipes the face of Jesus—Isaiah 53.2-3
We again have an account that is not recorded in Scripture but certainly one which is not out of the realm of possibility. Our attention is drawn to Jesus’ face. What do we see when we think of Jesus’ face? Do we think of the face of a stern judge? Are we like St. Peter who when he had denied Jesus 3 times [St. Lk. 22.61-62] the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord…Then Peter went out and wept bitterly? Yes, we should be! We should remember who exactly Jesus is—the very God Himself and the Judge on the Last Day. We should remember that the face of Jesus looks on and sees and knows each of our sins; that his eyes can and do look into our very hearts. Yes, we should tremble, fear, and go out and weep bitterly. But let us also look on Jesus’ face as He was going to Golgotha. Let us see His unattractive and disfigured face. It is still the face of the Son of God! But it is marred. Here we remember that it was marred for us and for our salvation. In His marred face let us see the mercy of God for us sinners.
THE SEVENTH STATION—Jesus falls the second time—Psalm 41.6-10
Here again we see the great suffering of Jesus. Yes, He is physically weakened. Even though He is relieved of the full burden of carrying the cross, He is still burdened with a great burden. Let us not forget that even now He is still feeling the burden of the rejection by the very people He had come to save; He is feeling the burden of betrayal—being betrayed by one of His own closest disciples—as He speaks in the psalm: Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Judas was that close friend who even ate the Passover over with Jesus and now lifted up his heel to crush and destroy Him by the betrayal. Jesus was suffering the abandonment of His disciples who fled in Gethsemane. Great is the inward suffering and burden that Jesus is still carrying. Under that inward burden Jesus stumbles and falls a second time.
THE EIGHTH STATION—Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who weep for Him—St. Luke 23. 27-29,31
Jesus is that green wood—one full of life and holiness—but even He cannot go through this world without sorrow and affliction and bitter suffering. What will be the end—how will those fare on the Last Day—who are the dry wood, that is those who have no spiritual life, those without faith and good works? That’s why Jesus tells them to weep for themselves and their children—to weep for their own sins and the sins of their children. For us this Good Friday, let our true sympathy with our Lord’s suffering not be in tears and handwringing but in repentance—that is sorrow over our sin and faith in Jesus as our Savior from that sin. That’s why He suffered all that He did: to bring us the forgiveness of sin, peace with God, and eternal life. Do not let His work be wasted on you; joyfully receive it in faith.
THE NINTH STATION—Jesus falls the third time—2 Corinthians 5.19-21
With another reminder of Jesus’ great physical suffering, we see all the more clearly that what He is doing He is doing because He wants to. Who would endure all this suffering—physical and spiritual—a suffering beyond compare and belief unless He truly wanted to? And why? Because it is His will and His Father’s will. Jesus suffers all this for the glory of the Father and for our salvation. As Jesus falls but yet continues on, there we take great comfort in His eager desire to finish our redemption. His desire to bring about the salvation of the world compelled Him to suffer more than really nature and human weakness could bear. May our Lord’s zeal to bring about our redemption increase in us our zeal to live a life of repentance—that is sorrow over sin and faith—for that is difficult. May our Lord’s zeal increase in us our zeal to be faithful to our Lord all through our lives—no matter how difficult it may be—with our eyes focused on heaven.
THE TENTH STATION—Jesus is stripped of His garments—St. John 19. 23-24
Here is more agony for our Lord. His garments that He wore most certainly clung to the wounds from His whipping and beatings. And now they are ripped off and the wounds bleed afresh. More agony and more humiliation! Just as Adam and Eve sought garments after they had sinned, so now is Jesus, burdened with the sins of the world, stripped. What a scene—He who clothes the sky with clouds, the trees with their leaves, the fields with grass and flowers, is now Himself stripped. But what do we see here looking at this scene with the eyes of faith? We see Jesus still clothed in the most beautiful garments—the garment of obedience to His heavenly Father. In this obedience He is faithfully bringing about the salvation of the world, willingly enduring everything. And we see Him clothed in the garment of love of us. In this great love He gave Himself for us so that we might live—have the forgiveness of sin, peace with God and eternal life!
THE ELEVENTH STATION—Jesus is nailed to the cross—St. Mark 15.25-27
As the saying goes: it’s not the nails that held Jesus to the cross but love—His love for us. Having come to this point at the Stations of the Cross, how can we not see that by now? But here is more physical agony for Jesus. And there is also more humiliation for Jesus as He is placed between two robbers. In spite of the excruciating pain of the nails, from the beating, and even just from breathing Jesus does not come down. He does not come down even when He is mocked by the two robbers—but one does later repent; He does not come down as the devil tempts Him through the taunts of the crowds [Mt. 27.39]: “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” But the greater suffering is yet to come! That’s when the Father completely forsakes Jesus on the cross who then suffers for our sins the very pangs of hell, crying out My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Here the Father’s wrath is being poured out of Jesus for all of our sins. What wondrous love of our dear Lord Jesus who endured this for us!
THE TWELFTH STATION—Jesus dies on the cross—St. John 19. 28-30
Jesus’ death was a true death. Soul separated from the body. When Jesus died He died for all to see. He was front and center. The centurion who was there and those with him testified at Jesus’ death as they saw all the miraculous events [Mt. 27.54]: Truly this was the Son of God! Then later on come the soldiers verify Jesus was dead by spearing His side. Yes, Jesus truly died. But there’s more. Notice what we just read: [Jesus] bowed his head and gave up his spirit. St. Matthew puts it a bit more boldly in His Gospel [Mt. 27.50]: when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. The point? Jesus still had strength! He called the shots on when He died. It is just as He had said earlier [Jn. 10.18]: No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. Jesus laid down His life. It wasn’t taken from Him. And this points us forward to Easter, as the verse continues: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Here we come face to face with the wondrous truth: God Himself died. Jesus is God; Jesus died; God died. And the wondrous thing? Through His death we obtain salvation; we are now righteous before God by the death of Jesus, the Righteous One.
THE THIRTEENTH STATION—Jesus is taken down from the cross—St. Mark 15.42-45
Here we see that even in death, Jesus has faithful disciples. We read of Joseph, and St. John also tells us of Nicodemus, who came with the burial spices and took Jesus off the cross and prepared quickly His body for burial. Here is a great work of God’s grace. These men had been secret disciples of Jesus. But now they took courage. The events kindled a holy fire in their hearts. The Spirit seized and equipped them with courage and strength from on high. And here we see the way Jesus would bring people into His kingdom, the Church down through the ages—the cross. What was once a sign suffering and shame—the cross—Jesus now uses and draws people to Himself, just as He had earlier said [John 12.32]: And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death he would die. Through His cross Jesus offers us the forgiveness of sin, peace with God, eternal life, and every heavenly and spiritual blessing.
THE FOURTEENTH STATION—Jesus placed in the tomb—St. Matthew 27. 57-60
Here Jesus is in deepest humiliation—He is using none of His divine power, glory and majesty: He’s dead! There’s nothing declaring death more than when the body is placed in the tomb. But with Jesus it is a prelude to His resurrection. He had to die and be buried before He could rise from the dead. The glorious thing, though, about Jesus’ death and burial is that He did not decay, as the psalm [16.10] prophesied: Nor will You allow Your holy One to see corruption. Jesus’ body spent the Sabbath Day, the day of rest, resting in the tomb. Now our tombs have been sanctified, set apart. The bodies of our Lord’s dear Christians will share in Jesus’ burial in that they will rest in the tomb until Jesus calls them forth on the Last Day in glory. The stone was rolled in front of the tomb to preach the resurrection.