Good Friday
- Our Lord Condemned: On a number of occasions during His trial, Pontius Pilate declared Jesus’ innocence, even to the point of literally washing his hands of the matter saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person [Mt. 27.25].” But in the end it is he who had to give the order for Jesus to be crucified—and doing the expedient thing, in order to avoid a riot breaking out—that’s exactly what he did. That raises the question we must wrestle with and examine our conscience with: how often have I done the “expedient thing” to fit in or because the temptation was too difficult or because I simply wanted to serve my own sinful desire, did I condemn Jesus anew by unholy living? May we not just see Pilate here, but may we see ourselves condemning Jesus. Instead of condemning Pilate for weakness and for not standing up and doing the right thing, let us recognize and repent of our own sin. But let us not stop there, but look to the holy, innocent One standing there condemned and see Him taking on our sin to the cross and praise Him for enduring its punishment in place of us.
- Our Lord Burdened: Jesus was not ashamed of the cross because His love for us would show most beautifully and shine most gloriously through His suffering and death on the cross. Jesus went out bearing His cross. It is something He willingly took on Himself. At His arrest He didn’t want to be rescued by 12 legions of angels but let all the events unfold that would lead to His suffering—yes—but also to our salvation. In the midst of it all, Jesus was certain of His victory; He was certain that He would bring about the salvation of the world. Scripture testifies: Jesus…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [Hb. 12.2].
- Our Lord Fatigued It was a slow arduous walk for Jesus and part of His great suffering. He had been up all through the night; He had been beaten and whipped and lost tremendous amounts of blood. How weak He must have been! Although Scripture doesn’t record instances of our Lord’s stumbling and falling under the weight of the cross, He certainly must have! Here we see that Jesus was truly suffering. He didn’t go through the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday like a machine or robot. For our salvation, He truly, physically suffered! And what does that mean for us? –It means that He knows what it’s like to suffer. He knows great agony. He knows what it means to live in a world of sin and suffering. And that means He knows what we are going through in our times of suffering. Scripture tells us about Jesus [Hb 4.15]: we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. And since He knows, He can help.
- Our Lord grieved Already 40 days after Jesus’ birth, when Mary and Joseph brought the Baby Jesus into the temple, St. Simeon gave Mary the prophecy [Lk 2.35]: yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also. She, too, would greatly suffer. She was at these Good Friday events; she was at the foot of the cross. How greatly she suffered as she saw her Son, bloodied and stumbling, now bearing His cross to the place of crucifixion. In this scene of greatest sorrow of a mother for her son, we see the true humanity of Jesus. He wasn’t just true God dropped down from the sky as some 30 year old man. Instead, He took on human flesh and blood in the virgin’s womb and became man going through every phase of human development. He has a mother; He grew up in a family. What love the mother has for her Son; what love the Son has for His mother. At the cross, we see Jesus entrusting the care of His mother to His beloved disciple, St. John. As much as we grieve and sorrow pondering Jesus’ suffering, how much more so His mother?
- Our Lord relieved: Here we read of Jesus getting some help. Because of His weakness and stumbling under the weight of the cross, because of the slowness of His progress and perhaps because the soldiers feared that Jesus might not make it to the place of execution but die before then, they force the cross on a man named Simon from the North African city of Cyrene who must have been in town for the Passover. How disgraceful it must have been for Simon to carry an instrument of torture and execution for a criminal and to follow Him [Lk 23.36]! But how blessedly it turned out for him! As St. Mark refers to his sons as people in the Church that were known to his readers. The point? –That great shame and suffering for Simon became a blessing as he came to know Jesus as His Savior and he brought/ shared that Gospel to his family. The Lord works that same way today with us. What seems great suffering and shame, Jesus uses for our spiritual and eternal good, working great blessing through it for us, like He did for Simon.
- Our Lord refreshed: Here we come to an event not recorded in Scripture but in no way outside the realm of possibility. Even though it may not have happened, it helps us ponder another aspect of Jesus’ passion. This event directs us to look at our Lord’s holy face now so full of suffering. St. Isaiah prophesies of Jesus here in the midst of His saving work that He wasn’t beautiful, that people turn away from Him. Why? He was beaten and bruised, full of sweat and blood on the way to being crucified. Certainly no one to look at! But as St. Veronica wipes Jesus face, we look at Jesus’ face and what sort of face is it? It is a face of God! In Jesus, God and man meet; Jesus is the God-man. If you want to see God, look at Jesus. And how do we see Jesus? We don’t see Him now as an angry judge out to get us but we see Him suffering—for us and our salvation. This is the face of God our Savior! This is the face of mercy!
- Our Lord fatigued: Again Jesus stumbles! Even though relieved of the weight of the cross that Simon is now carrying, Jesus is still fatigued and stumbles. Our reading gives us a glimpse on what Jesus must have been enduring. Here, loaded down with the sins of the world, Jesus sees and feels only God’s wrath. The darkness that Jesus is walking in is the darkness of not understanding God’s judgment and culminates with His cry from the cross: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Although as God, Jesus knows all things, as man it is unfathomable for Him—the holy and sinless One to be suffering God’s wrath over sin. Jesus is enduring nothing but bitterness from God—drinking that cup of suffering. As He stumbles and falls, His mouth/ teeth are in the gravel. This stumbling and falling, His mouth in the dust is an image of our Lord’s deepest humiliation and sorrow. But what? There may still be hope! Jesus learns in silence; He does not murmur; He bows to God’s will and willingly submits—for us and our salvation.
- Our Lord lamented: Now Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who were mourning and weeping for Him on His way to be crucified. By all outward rights and appearances, they had every reason to weep over Jesus—both for what He had been through and what He would soon endure. But what does Jesus do? He has pity on them! He sorrows over them for what is coming upon Jerusalem in a mere 40 years—its destruction by the Romans. Isn’t that the way of our dear Lord? Here we have a glimpse into the heart of God. And what do we see? We see His love for us; we see Him mourning over our sin and our well-deserved punishment for that sin; we see that He doesn’t want us to die in our sin. That’s why He calls us to repent of our sins and to turn to Him in repentance and faith. Let us heed our Lord’s call to repent and use these final days of Lent to weep for ourselves and our sins in repentance and to turn in faith to Jesus for forgiveness.
- Our Lord exhausted: Again, our Lord’s physical exhaustion! And this physical exhaustion is certainly an outward reflection of the true spiritual torment and agony He is going through. Now Jesus is on the way/ path of suffering, but all during His earthly life, He was on the old path, the good way, the path of doing the will of God. He walked on that old path—that path of doing the Lord’s will—for us because we don’t. We walk on the path of sin, the path that that does not serve the Lord but of slavery to sin. How easily our feet go on that path instead of the path that’s really for our good and our salvation! But for us, Jesus walked both that old path of love of God and a life of holiness and by that Jesus kept God’s holy Law for us; and Jesus walked the path of suffering to the cross that He might suffer and die for our sins. Now, because Jesus walked the path of suffering we can have rest of soul as He gives us the fruit and benefit of His work—forgiveness of sin, peace with God and eternal life. He invites us to come to Him for rest and peace—to Him who exhausted Himself for us.
- Our Lord stripped: Here every last vestige of our Lord’s dignity is gone. Lest we lose heart and think that everything had gone wrong—the Holy Spirit reminds us through the Evangelist that this, too, had been prophesied. This was all part of the plan for our salvation. But we also see something here that teaches us about Jesus. Everything of Jesus is gone. His disciples had fled. He had been declared guilty as a criminal so His reputation and honor were gone. He had been rejected by the religious authorities. And now, He, literally, did not even have the clothes on His back. But what was the one thing He had and that could not be taken away from Him? His love of the Father and thus the desire to do His will. Jesus still desired to do the will of the Father and to save the world from its sin and death. What still remained was His love—both for God and for us sinners.
- Our Lord crucified: Jesus was crucified and now with Him hanging on the cross, His “crime” of why He was being crucified was inscribed above His head: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Usually when we ponder Jesus’ crucifixion, we look at Him. But what if we turn it around and think about what it is that Jesus sees as He looks out hanging on the cross. He sees the soldiers who crucified Him and now guard Him—reminders of the power of the world. He sees the two other criminals crucified with Him—reminders that the world is full of sinners, but some of who confess their sin and believe on Him. He sees the religious leaders of the Jews gloating and mocking Him—reminders that He had come as Savior to the people God promised but they rejected Him. He sees average people taunting Him—reminders that the world in general rejects Him. But He sees His mother; He sees a few faithful women; He sees St. John—they are all reminders to Him of the faithful of His Church. As He looks out, surely what the Evangelist had written would still apply: [Mt. 936] when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them. This is our comfort today—Jesus has compassion on us.
- Our Lord expired: What beautiful and comforting words: “It is finished.” All the work for our salvation is done. The Scriptures with all their prophecies for a Savior have been fulfilled. There is nothing more for Jesus to do and there is nothing more for us to do for our salvation. Jesus did it all. He truly died. The body and soul of Jesus-the God man separated—only to be reunited 3 days later on Easter Sunday. Now the fruits and blessings of Jesus’ work come to us by the work of the Holy Spirit in the word and sacraments. Remember, as Jesus’ side was pierced, not only did it show that He truly died, but from the wound came blood and water pointing us to the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion by which Jesus comes to us and gives us the fruit and blessing of His work.
- Our Lord removed: The triumph of the cross is immediate and effective. The effect of faith was immediate as we see in thief that repented and trusted in Jesus was saved. Now we come to another immediate and effective result of the triumph of the cross. Although we usually think of the disciples running away and hiding, we see the crucifixion giving courage to Joseph of Arimathea who went to Pilate to get Jesus’ body to place in his own tomb. Before he had been a disciple of Jesus but secretly, for fear of the Jews [Jn 19.38], but now he was emboldened. Let us also be emboldened by Jesus’ crucifixion. Let us see the cross as Jesus’ throne where He was enthroned and glorified. For there on the cross He brought about the salvation of the world. There on the cross He reconciled sinful humanity with the holy God. At the cross Jesus established and set up His kingdom, the Church. By the cross and the message of the cross Jesus is gathering people into His holy kingdom. Let the cross of Christ/ His death make us bold.
- Our Lord entombed: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took Jesus’ body and prepared it quickly for burial. And Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb. Nothing says “death” more certainly than tomb and burial. Here was the depth of our Lord’s humiliation—that is, not making use of His divine power and glory. How could He—He was dead. But with Jesus being placed in the tomb, there we see that what He said on the cross, It is finished, has actually happened. Jesus was now completely at rest in the tomb from the work of our salvation. He was dead; there was nothing He could do. His body rested and awaited the resurrection. Because Jesus’ body rested and awaited the resurrection in the tomb, so too will our own bodies. When we die as Christians, we can have peace. Our souls will go to our Lord in heaven while our bodies will rest and– because we are sinners—decay. But we await the resurrection when at Jesus’ command the body will be raised, glorified, and reunited with the soul for a glorious eternity in heaven. Jesus rose and we look forward to our own.