Passion Week - Good Friday

 

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:37-39 ESV).

 

It is Friday of the first Passion Week, the darkest day in human history, though most people have no clue of this. In Rome, Tiberius attends to the demanding business of the empire. Throughout the inhabited world people tend to their regular schedule. People live and die as in any other day. But today, one death will leave upon a mark on human history like no other. God’s only begotten Son, the Creator of all that is (cf. John 1:3), will be executed. The Jewish day dawns with night, and never has it been more fitting, since today the hour has come, where Jesus is in Gethsemane, where he has prayed with loud cries and tears, being heard by his Father (cf. Hebrews 5:7) whose will shall be done.

 

Jesus hears noises and looks up. Torches and hushed voices signal the arrival of the mob. Soldiers and servants encircle Jesus. Peter, flushed with anger, pulls out his sword and lunges at those nearest Jesus. Jesus is led roughly away to the house of Annas, a former High Priest, who questions him about his teaching. Jesus knows this informal interrogation is meant to catch him disoriented and unguarded. He is neither, and gives this manipulative leader nothing. Frustrated, Annas sends Jesus on to his son-in-law Caiaphas, the current High Priest. At Caiaphas’s house the trial gets underway quickly. Morning will come fast. The Council needs a damning verdict by daybreak. Sanhedrin members continue to file in. The trial has been assembled hastily and witnesses haven’t been screened well. Testimonies don’t line up. Jesus is silent as an impatient Caiaphas cuts to the quick: “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). Jesus seals His death: “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). Caiaphas, relieved at this damning testimony, declares the trial at an end.

 

As the sun breaks over Jerusalem’s eastern ridge, Judas has taken his own life, Peter agonizes in the grief of his failure, and Jesus’ face is streaked with dried blood and saliva from the pre-dawn sport of the temple police. The Council’s verdict: guilty of blasphemy. Their sentence: death. But it’s a sentence they cannot carry out. Rome refuses to delegate capital punishment. He is remanded to Pilate. Pilate’s mood worsens as he grasps the situation. They want him to execute a Galilean “prophet.” His seasoned instincts tell him something isn’t right. He questions Jesus and then tells the Council, “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4). A game of political chess ensues between Pilate and the Sanhedrin, neither realizing that they are pawns, not kings.

 

Pilate makes a move. As a Galilean, Jesus falls under Herod Antipas’ jurisdiction. Let Herod judge. Herod ultimately returns Jesus to Pilate. Pilate makes another move. He offers to release Jesus as this year’s annual Passover-pardoned prisoner. The Council blocks the move. “Not this man, but Barabbas!” they cry (John 18:40). Pilate is astounded. The Sanhedrin prefers a thief and murderer to this peasant prophet? Pilate tries another move. He has Jesus severely flogged and humiliated, hoping to curb the Council’s blood thirst. Again the move is blocked when the Council insists that Jesus must be crucified because “he has made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Check. Pilate’s fear grows. Jesus’ divine claim could threaten Rome. Worse, it could be true. Roman deities supposedly could take on human form. His further questioning of Jesus unnerves him. Finally, Pilate tries to persuade the Sanhedrin to release Jesus. However, the Council has Pilate where they want him. He relents and sentences Jesus to be crucified. And, God’s will is accomplished. Fallen Jews, Gentiles, and spiritual powers unwittingly collaborate in executing the only innocent death that could possibly grant the guilty life.

 

Cursed (Galatians 3:13), Jesus has become sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). In terrifying isolation, cut off from his Father and all humans, he cries out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” Aramaic for “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Ps. 22:1). Shortly after 3:00 pm, Jesus whispers hoarsely for a drink. In love, he has drained the cup of his Father’s wrath. He has taken our full curse. There is no debt left to pay, and he has nothing left to give. The wine moistens his mouth just enough to say one final word: “It is finished” (John 19:30). And God the Son dies. It is the worst and best of all human deaths. He has paid that debt we could never pay, and died the death we deserved. And now it is finished. All that remains is the victory of grace!