Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Days In-Between预览

Friday

Friday is the day Jesus was crucified. It’s known as Good Friday – not because what happened to Jesus was good. Some think “good” here means “pious,” “holy,” or “special” –and that’s true. But perhaps even more powerful is this: despite the awful evil Jesus willingly faced and suffered, He brought unlimited goodness to us.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday aren't just important days–they are the defining moments of Jesus' saving work and the very foundation of Christianity.

What Happened

Shortly before Jesus was born, the first-century BC Roman poet Cicero described crucifixion as “a most cruel and disgusting punishment.” He also wrote: “the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen's body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears.”

We find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion, pleading with God to take it away. John tells us Jesus was troubled in Spirit, so much so that, according to the Gospel of Luke, it caused Jesus to sweat drops of blood.

Add to that the betrayal of a close friend, arrest, false accusations, all his disciples abandoning him, a sleepless night before kangaroo courts, unjust condemnation, beatings, all the horrors of victimization, and total exhaustion wearing at every ounce of strength and resolve. It’s just the beginning of what Jesus would face on the Friday we call good.

The Gospels tell us Jesus was flogged. Imagine an angry Roman soldier whipping you over and over again within an inch of your life.

The Gospels tell us they put a robe over his whipped and broken body, and beat a crown made from branches of thorns into his head.

The Gospels tell us they spat on him, punched him, and mocked him with shouts of “Hail! King of the Jews!”

The Gospels tell us that His own people demanded His crucifixion—perhaps some of the same voices that had hailed Him as King just five days earlier, maybe even some He had healed. And they chose a known terrorist and murderer over Him.

The Gospels tell us they paraded him through the streets, forced to carry his own instrument of execution under the jeers and taunts of those around him. The loss of blood, dehydration, and exhaustion caused him to collapse under the weight of the cross.

The Gospels tell us they led him to a place called Golgotha – “the Skull.”

The Gospels tell us they nailed him to a cross. And they tell us Jesus died.

The Gospels describe very little detail about the crucifixion itself. For a first-century listener, those details weren’t necessary. (Movies like The Passion of the Christ or any number of books on the subject can help show you its horror in detail.) For the New Testament writers the mere mention of the word was enough. People knew what it meant when they said they crucified him.

HUMILIATION, DEGRADATION, DEHYDRATION, SHOCK, LOSS OF BLOOD, ASPHYXIATION, EXPOSURE, INFECTION, FATIGUE… This is Good Friday in its horrendous detail. This is what Jesus endured on Good Friday for us. This is how Jesus died.

But Good Friday is not about the horrendous details for their own sake. It’s that Jesus endured this to take our sins away. On the cross he took our punishment for us. On Good Friday Jesus made us right with God by his perfect sacrifice.

What Jesus Accomplished

When Jesus was born, the angels proclaimed Jesus as Savior, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

Jesus would talk about this. Through the Gospels he says that his glory is God’s glory and foreshadows that his glory would be seen on a cross (Mark 10, John 12, and more).

The New Testament roots its proclamation of salvation and hope in what Jesus did on Good Friday and Easter, particularly through his death on the cross.

• By his death, Jesus defeated death.
• By his death, God’s justice was met.
• By his death, our punishment has been turned away.
• By his death, we are forgiven.
• By his death, we are reconciled to God.
• By his death, we can become God’s children.
• By his death, evil and the dark powers are struck down.
• By his death, the world is saved.
• By his death, we have victory over sin.
• By his death, we have new life.
• By his death, we see God’s love through sacrifice.
• By his death, Jesus is exalted.
• By his death, love wins.

By his death.

This is what Jesus did. This is the price he paid because of the love he has for us and his Father. This is peace – peace that lasts, peace that endures, true peace between God and humanity. This is Good Friday. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

You can read about what happened on Good Friday in Matthew 27:1-61; Mark 15:1-47; Luke 22:63-23:56; and John 18:28-19:37.