Good Friday

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus. 

Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

John 19v1-30: 

“1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

“They divided my garments among them,

    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

The Death of Jesus

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 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. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Going Deeper:

For the past few days we have been making our way through Holy week, following Jesus’ journey to the cross in the days that lead up to his crucifixion. 

Today is Good Friday, and on this day more than 2000 years ago Jesus was tried, condemned, crucified and died. Jesus, who was perfect and blameless, who lived the life we could not live, was beaten, mocked and scorned by the world, dying the death we deserved. 

‘Good’ seems to be an unusual designation to assign to such a brutal and agonizing day for Jesus. And yet for all of humankind the word ‘good’ seems to be a completely inadequate description of what this day truly means for us.

Why is Good Friday good news for us?

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made a way for us to receive freedom and forgiveness from God as we put our faith in Him. Not only are our sins forgiven, but through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are also reconciled back into relationship with God. A relationship where we are fully known and can know the One who offers us true life. 

This is the good news of the Gospel, this was the purpose of Good Friday. 

What’s so good about Good Friday for Jesus?

Hebrews 12v2: “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”.

In Hebrews 12v2 we read that Jesus endured the cross, despising it’s shame for the joy set before Him.  

What was the joy set before Him? 

The verse goes on to say that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God which is both a reference to his close relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, as well as his position of honour, glory and power. 

This most certainly was part of the joy that was set before him... but so were we.

Jesus was already part of the Trinity, enjoying intimacy with God the Father and the Holy Spirt before he became human. Jesus already had honour, glory and power before he came to Earth. Jesus did not come to die on the cross for either of those things.

It was love that compelled Jesus to die for us.  God’s great love for us was the reason he sent His Son Jesus to the cross. God loves us dearly, and when you love someone you love spending time with them. You want to have a close relationship with them.

It brings God great joy when we draw near to Him, and through Jesus we now have full access to Him.

In John 19v 28-30 we read about Jesus’ final moments on the cross: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill 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.”

St Augustine comments on these last words of Jesus saying: “And when he was on the cross, he said, ‘I thirst,’ although they did not give him that for which he was thirsting. For he was thirsting for them.”

There is no doubt that Jesus must have had a physical thirst for water in this moment, he had been in the desert hanging on a cross for hours. But, he also had an incredible thirst for us. 

He desires to have a relationship with us. He longs for us to draw near to Him. He does not want us to settle for a life that is distant from Him because he knows that true life is found in Him. His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection paved the way for us to have full access to God. He is near to all who call on Him. 

Will we draw near to Him?

We do not draw near to God through our achievements or good works, but by grace alone. We do not need to earn God’s love or affection, we do not need to perform to gain his attention. Jesus did it all on the cross on Good Friday. 

Drawing near to God is about positioning our hearts before Him. It’s about making space in our lives to seek Him, spending time in and enjoying His presence.

What are we thirsting for, do we thirst for Him?

There are many things we can try to quench our thirst on in this world: money, power, beauty, careers, family, friendships, or our sexuality to name a few. But these things only offer us brief satisfaction. 

Jeremiah 2v13: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

As we draw near to God, as we pursue his presence and intimacy with Him, we find in Him the true joy and fulfilment that we have always longed for. We find true life.

This is the good (wonderful, brilliant, phenomenal, marvellous) news of Good Friday.

Pray:

Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to your from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?