The Not so Good Friday

 

The original Good Friday wasn’t so good. 

As I read about the original Good Friday – it’s not for the weak-hearted.  In fact, it’s kinda graphic.   And to be honest, almost too much to bear.  

But we should.  After all, this is what Jesus did to pay the cost for you and I to know God personally; for the promise of heaven; for the assurance of our sins to be forgiven for confident hope in the future; for peace; for joy. 

May we not forget.  May we appreciate and love Him all the more…

It’s 2:30am.  Jesus has not slept.

• The pressure of going to the cross has caused Him to sweat drops of blood in prayer.
• When He needed the support of His friends, they slept.
• His best friends deserted Him.
• Someone He thought was a friend completely betrayed Him.
• One of His closest friends – has denied knowing Him.

Not the start to a good day…

The decision for the death penalty has already been decided by the very people who should have identified Him as the Messiah. Next, He allows Himself to be dragged from trial to trial.

1. It’s ~2:30am:  Trial #1 – Anas, Former High Priest

2. It’s ~3:00am Trial #2 – Caiaphas, High Priest

Jesus is blind-folded and mocked at this trial. Otherwise dignified rulers spit on His face and strike Him with their fists. Others slap Him. And Jesus, the Son of God, your Savior and mine, allowed the assault.

3. It’s ~5:00am Trial #3 – The Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin assembly leads Jesus to Pilate. In order for Pilate to take the case, the Pharisees begin leveling false accusations such as: “He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar.  He’s subverting our nation.”  (Pitiful.  What lies.)  Jesus says very little and is led to the Roman Governor.

4. It’s ~ 6:00am Trial #4 – Pilate, the Roman Governor

After talking to Jesus, Pilate can’t find any reason to charge Him. He’s thrilled when he finds out that Jesus is from Galilee. It’s Herod’s jurisdiction – He sends Jesus to Herod.

5. Trial #5 – Herod

Herod wants Jesus to perform a miracle.  It’s as if he wants to see a magic trick. Yet Herod is met with deafening silence.    Jesus knew his heart.  Herod had beheaded John the Baptist.   As a result, Jesus refuses to speak.  He’s taken back to Pilate for the final time.  (Luke 23:8-10)

6.  It’s ~ 8:00am Trial #6 – Pilate (again)

Scripture records that Pilate desperately wanted to free Jesus.   His own wife had even sent him a message saying, “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of Him.” Matt.27:19

So in order to appease the Jewish people, Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged.  Do you know what flogging means? Take a deep breathe, it’s gruesome.

Jesus is Flogged

Jesus was stripped of all but His loincloth. He was tied with His face to a post. Using a whip of leather thongs tipped with metal bits, a soldier whipped Him. The whip would rip the flesh off of His back. His internal organs would have been exposed. The whipping would have gone from the shoulders down the back, to the buttocks and to the back of the legs. A flogging normally consisted of 39 lashes, depending on the mood of the soldier. It was beyond horrible. History records that victims would either go insane, go into unconsciousness or would die.  (Taken from Lee Strobal’s, A Case for Easter.)

The miracle is not that Jesus survived it – but that He submitted to it. At any point He could have called down a legion of angels and had them sent straight to hell. But He didn’t.

Following the flogging, Pilate tries to free Jesus – but the Jews press insist saying: “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.”    Pilate ultimately hands Jesus over to the Jews for execution.

It’s approximately 9:00am.

The Crucifixion

According to ancient custom, the cross was placed on the ground.   Jesus would have been stretched out on it. Can you imagine His back – raw and exposed from the flogging – having to lay down on the wood?

According to Strobal, “The Romans used spikes that were 5-7 inches long and tapered to a sharp point. They were driven through the wrists, about an inch or so below His left palm. This was a solid position that would lock the hand; if the nails had driven through the palms, His weight would have caused the skin to tear and He would have fallen off the cross. So the nails went through the wrists. The wrists were considered part of the hand in the language of the day. The pain would have been absolutely unbearable.”

Then the nails would have been driven through His feet. Strobal writes, “again, the nerves in His feet would have been crushed, and there would have been excruciating pain.”

Crucifixion is essentially an agonizingly slow death by asphyxiation. In order to exhale, Jesus would have to push up on His feet… Breathe.  Release. Push up. Breathe.  Release.   Doing this again and again with His flogged back going up and down.

AT NOON:  supernatural darkness falls on the land until three o’clock.  The light from the sun was gone.   God, for the first time ever, turns away from Jesus.

These last three hours were the worst.  Jesus became sin.  We catch a glimpse into what was going on in Jesus’ heart from the prophetic writings of the 22nd Psalm:

At 3:00pm –  Suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.  There’s no longer a barrier between God and anyone who accepts Jesus’ sacrifice by faith.  There’s now open fellowship and an opportunity for relationship with Creator, God.

Jesus knew His mission was finished.  After receiving a taste of sour wine from a hyssop branch, He concludes by saying , “It is finished.”   With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

This is what Jesus did on the Friday before Easter.

He did this for YOU and for me.

What amazing love!