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Good Friday 25 March

Luke 23: 1 – 49

Rev. Peter R Green, 25 Mar, 2005

GOOD FRIDAY reminds us of suffering and death. It is a sad day, and it can be hard to understand how sad can be good. Yet all the events of that day point to goodness in the midst of pain.

  We could look a many aspects of the Good Friday events, but we will hear the Gospel and stop at several points to reflect on it. At the conclusion of each section, we will stop and think and pray before moving on.

HYMN 212:    Man Of Sorrows

Opening Prayer

Brief Welcome

SS 105:    Fill My Eyes, O My God

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND JESUS

  The Jewish leaders knew that a charge of blasphemy would never carry weight with the Romans. After all, the Romans considered all vareties of Jewish belief equally strange and confused.

  Jesus had now been a prisoner of the Temple Authorities for about 12 hours. The Chief Priest and his cronies had interrogated Jesus and found no major reason to execute him. But he was too radical, too dangerous, to be left alone. They decided to kill him anyway. But they had very limited power to execute anyone.

  Here’s what they did to implement their negative response to him and his message...

LK 23:1 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. ² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.”

^23:3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

^23:4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

^23:5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

^23:6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷ When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

^23:8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. ⁹ He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. ¹² That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

PONTIUS PILATE AND JESUS

  A recent TV program made the interesting point that Pilate was much more in control of tis situation than we often give him credit for. He was certainly afraid of being denounced to Caesar. But he was also quite determined to break the priests’ power. He wanted to force them to reject any notion of a king other than Caesar.

^{LK 23:13} Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him and then release him. “

  John records that Pilate asked the crowd, “Shall I crucify your King?” With that question he put them over a barrel. If they accepted Jesus as their king, they denied Caesar. Pilate would have had good grounds for punishing the leaders. And, if they denied Jesus as their king, they accepted Roman rule.

  But while it is true that it suited Pilate to kill Jesus, we need to realise two things. First, that the Jewish leaders had fully determined to make an end to this Jesus movement, and, second, that Pilate’s main aim was to humiliate the Jewish leaders, to make them beg him. He didn’t care so much what became of Jesus. He wasn’t a big threat. But, if Jesus had to die, so what? As long as the priests were forced to acknowledge Roman power.

  The more you go into it, the more you see just how guilty both Jews and Gentiles were. There is no one people group specially responsible for killing Jesus. As the Bible says, “There is none righteous, not one!”

BARABBAS AND JESUS

^{LK 23:18} With one voice they cried out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

^23:20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

^23:22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

^23:23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

  Barabbas means, “The Father’s son.” It was probably a pseudonym, a nom de guerre, so that his family would not suffer reprisals. In many ways, Barabbas is Jesus’ dark shadow. He is the criminal who is released by the death of Jesus; the one created in the Father’s image, who is marred by sin, yet released by God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

  There’s a sense in which we are all Barabbas, we are all insurrectionists, who want to do God’s work, but will only do it our own way. Barabbas wanted his people to be free and proud; he sought that result through murder and mayhem.

SS 566:   It's Your Blood That Cleanses Me

^{LK 23:26} As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. ²⁷ A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For the time will come when you will say, `Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then

“ `they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”

and to the hills, “Cover us!” ‘

^23:31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

THE CRUCIFIXION PARTY AND JESUS

^{LK 23:32} Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

  Many people have observed that the Romans knew exactly what they were doing. And that’s right. They knew they were killing someone who should be made an example of.This was no ordinary criminal, taken out to the roadside and hacked to death. He worried the Jews because he claimed to be their King; he troubled the Romans, because he might challenge Caesar.

  What they didn’t know was who they were killing. They thought he was just some Jewish trouble maker. They didn’t know he was truly the King the Jews expected and that he was the Lord of all Caesars.

HYMN 152:   O Sacred Head Now Wounded

^{LK 23:35} The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”

^23:36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

^23:38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

TWO CRIMINALS AND JESUS

^{LK 23:39} One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

^23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

  A recent issue of the Dilbert cartoon showed the Branch Manager informing all the staff that the company was going to move to a new location. The Company CEO had sent a memo to all staff informing them that there should be no concerns about working in a building in a high crime area, as they could just drive their limousines straight into the security carpark. Then he added, “Or chain your bicycle to a wino... whatever.”

  The people at the top — the priests, the Governors, the CEOs, the Managers — how often do they really see what is happening? How in touch with the real world and its troubles are they? How many of them got to where they are by trampling on people, and by ignoring their pain?

  It was one of the outsiders, one of the “no-hopers” who saw what no one else saw.

  He saw that Jesus was different. He saw that Jesus was the king. He had faith where no one else had it.

^23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. “

^23:43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

^23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Offering and the Lord’s Supper

SS 640:   The Price Is Paid

• Prayer for the Church in our world, especially for those who are persecuted.

• Prayer for the salvation of many

A CENTURION AND JESUS

  No matter what happened, Jesus kept his heart and mind where it belonged, with his Heavenly Father.

  There are many good people, many noble people, many just people; but those with a passion for God are the ones who make a lasting impression.

^{LK 23:47} The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” ⁴⁸ When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. ⁴⁹ But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

  It was not the priests, nor was it the Jewish leaders, who first realised who Jesus was. It was a pagan Roman soldier, who said, “Surely, this was a righteous man.” In other accounts, he says, “Surely, this was the son of God.” Perhaps he said both.

JESUS AND YOU

  When I first came to understand the gospel, I remember in particular that the Scripture Teacher, Rev. Dickie Barton, had been telling us for several weeks about people who responded to Jesus in different ways.

  On his second–last occasion with us, he changed the theme a bit. He asked us how did we respond to Jesus.

  He told us that every one of us needed to decide what our own choice was.

  I did not become a Christian until about 18 months later, but, from that time on, I knew there was only one decision I could make about Jesus.

  I remind us all that everyone who met Jesus responded to him in some way. You have met him today: how do you respond?

HYMN 666:   King Of My Life

Prayer and closing Benediction

After the service we are invited to stay for tea, coffee and buns.

© Peter R. Green 2005. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)