Good Friday
Matthew 27:27-56
"...we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body..."
(HEBREWS 10:19-20)
It is ugly; it is the darkest day in history. And yet we call it Good Friday. Watching Mel Gibson's movie was the closest I ever came to understanding the grisly suffering of the cross, but even the best Hollywood can put forward doesn't do the Passion justice. Walking in the very places Jesus may have stepped on His way to His death stirs wonder and awe in me, but I still cannot come close to knowing what it really was like.
Jesus died from cruel and unusual punishment. He died for me. He took on my sins and paid what I could never pay. He spilled His blood to make me pure and acceptable in His sight. The cross is the pivotal moment in history. The sky darkened, the earth quaked, and Jesus declared with His final breath, "It is finished."
Christ has conquered, and if we have made our way to the foot of the cross, we can be so thankful for that terrible Good Friday. Jesus came to this earth to seek and save the lost, the rebels, the sinners - the people like me. Praise be to God for Good Friday!
INSIGHT
FATHER, KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS. THIS IS WHERE MY SIN WAS FORGIVEN, MY BURDENS ARE LIFTED, AND WHERE JESUS DRAWS NEAR.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Deuteronomy 17-18
Psalm 88
Acts 11-12
Matthew 27:27-56
New International Version (NIV)
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
The Crucifixion of Jesus
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[b]
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[c] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,[d] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 27:46 Some manuscripts Eloi, Eloi
b. Matthew 27:46 Psalm 22:1
c. Matthew 27:53 Or tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they
d. Matthew 27:56 Greek Joses, a variant of Joseph
THE LAMB OF GOD [PART 5]
with Darrell Johnson
Do you know the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? This weekend we will celebrate the risen Christ who offers forgiveness on the basis of his own sacrificial death for our sins.
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