Good Friday – 3 Apr 2015 – Year B

Good Friday – 3 Apr 2015 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Our meditation for this Good Friday is drawn from the four scripture readings from Isaiah, Hebrews, John and Psalm 22 and LH 70.

Let us pray: Father, guide the words of my mouth and meditation of our hearts that as we stand at the foot of the cross of suffering and shame, we may feel totally humbled and yet moved to receive and share this gift of inexplicable love, in and through Christ the sacrificial lamb. Amen

On this most sacred and holy day, we stand in solemn silence and sublime awe at the foot of the cross.

The world has its constant noise and profane chatter, its blindness to the things of God, and its indifference to Christ and the cross. But today we shut the world out, for it has no place here. Today we open our eyes, our ears, and all our senses to the one great reality of which we sing in the Good Friday hymn; LH 70:  “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”:

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

See Him dying on the tree!

’Tis the Christ, by man rejected;

Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!

’Tis the long-expected Prophet,

David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;

Proofs I see sufficient of it:

’Tis the true and faithful Word.

This was portrayed graphically by King David in Psalm 22. Written around 1000 BC, this psalm is a virtual photograph of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, our Lord. (v 1). “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (vv 6–8). “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ ”

(v 14). “I am poured out like water”; (vv 15–18). “My tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots”

Also Isaiah, who wrote roughly 700 BC, gave his own photographic description of the events of Good Friday. Thus we meditate on this profound truth:

On the Cross, Jesus was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God so that we are accounted righteous, healed, and at peace with God.

Jesus is stricken, so that we are accounted righteous. The way in which Jesus was stricken is truly remarkable! He was stricken by God, his Father! Isaiah described this: (Is 53:3–4).  “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted”  -  Why would God strike his own Son? In the mystery and marvel of God’s love for us sinners, he desired to place the punishment we deserved upon his sinless Son. (Is 53:5); “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” Only through Jesus’ passion, suffering, and death in our place and as our substitute could God’s wrath against sin be appeased.

Now in Jesus we are accounted righteous before God the Father! Thus verse 2 of the hymn continues:

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,

Was there ever grief like His?

Friends through fear His cause disowning,

Foes insulting His distress;

Many hands were raised to wound Him,

None would intervene to save;

But the deepest stroke that pierced Him

Was the stroke that justice gave.

Friends, now that justice has struck Jesus, it can no longer strike us, and God accounts us righteous in his Son. What a mystery of unfathomable love is before us!

Today, we also see that Jesus is smitten, so that we are healed. (Jn 19:16–19);  “So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’ ” The details of Christ’s suffering are well-known to us all: the spitting, the scourging, the blows, the crown of thorns, the nails in hands and feet, the pierced side. The Old Testament book of Deut 21:23 clearly states that “he who is hanged [on a tree] is accursed” Being smitten by the hands of the Jews and the Romans was not a pretty sight. The imagery portrayed in the movie The Passion of the Christ, has had such a disturbing effect on viewers , that many have gone into denial about the cruelty and severity of Jesus punishment and crucifixion

Yet the hymn will not allow us to look away:

Ye who think of sin but lightly

Nor suppose the evil great

Here may view its nature rightly,

Here its guilt may estimate.

Mark the sacrifice appointed,

See who bears the awful load;

’Tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed,

Son of Man and Son of God.

The real smiting was from God the Father, so that now we are healed! The healing for us is complete, it is done. We did not bring it about. Jesus did!

John, the beloved disciple, gave his eyewitness account; (Jn 19:28–30). “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit”

This day we see that Jesus is afflicted, so that we are at peace. In Hebrews 4: (vv 14–16);  we learn that “since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” How can the affliction of Jesus bring us peace? Because Jesus has passed through life, death, resurrection, and ascension into the heavens; at God’s right hand, we have a high priest who pleads our case at the throne of grace. As our Brother, he sympathizes with our frail natures. As our Lord, he offers us mercy in every situation and place. He himself is our peace.

And thus the hymn concludes:

Here we have a firm foundation,

Here the refuge of the lost:

Christ, the Rock of our salvation,

Is the name of which we boast;

Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,

Sacrifice to cancel guilt!

None shall ever be confounded

Who on Him their hope have built.

Isaiah knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time; (Is 53:6); “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”

David knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. (Ps 22:27–28, 30–31); “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. . . . Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it”

John knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time; (Jn 19:34–35, 37); “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. . . . ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced’ ”

The writer of Hebrews knew the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time; (5:8–9); “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”

You and I know the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all people, for all time. He did this for you and me!

On this most sacred and holy day, we stand in solemn silence and sublime awe at the foot of the cross.

On the cross, where Jesus was Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by God so that we are accounted righteous, healed, and at peace with God. Amen

The peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds, in true faith in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting. Amen