Holy Week 2022: Good Friday
Spend a few moments in silence before God preparing your heart to hear from Him.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justifymany,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
- Isaiah 53:7-12
Isaiah 53 describes the suffering servant. What does Isaiah say is the reason for the servant’s suffering?
Pray using the words Jesus taught us to pray:
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
- Matthew 6:9-13
Read Matthew 26:36-46
Part of the mystery of the cross is that we cannot comprehend the horror Jesus faced in His suffering by taking the sin of the world upon Himself in the type of death He died. Why does He pray in terror and anguish in the garden before His betrayal and arrest? What is it that leads Him to plead with His Father? Many will offer answers to these questions. But how can we explain in words the magnitude of what it is the eternal Word of God the Son made flesh did for us by entering into human history to rescue us from our sin and rebellion against Him?
Crucifixion was a truly horrific way to die. The Romans had perfected this prolonged, torturous method of execution to be as dehumanizing as possible. In Psalm 22, a Psalm that prophetically points to Christ’s death on the cross, the psalmist laments, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people” (Ps. 22:6). A crucified person was considered less than the scum of all the earth. Yes, crucifixion was painful, but it was also shameful, isolating, and a total, systematic destruction of a person’s worth and identity. Not only this but as Jesus cries out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46b) , He testifies to being utterly forsaken unto death.
What does it mean for God the Son to be forsaken? Again, words escape us. That the royal Messiah would be allowed to die in such a way was scandalous. Fleming Rutledge writes, “Jesus’ death was of the most godforsaken nature. The disciples could not have seen his humiliating and inglorious death as obedience to God, a vindication of his mission, or a heroic martyrdom. On the contrary, precisely because it was a crucifixion, they could have seen it only as the utter discrediting of his claims before God and man.”[1] The disciples could not have seen Jesus’ death in this matter as the crux of God’s plan to save humanity. To them, the cross meant utter failure and devastating defeat.
Whatever it was that caused Jesus to tremble in excruciating agony as He prayed in the garden, it was more than mere death and physical pain. Rutledge explains, “The accursed, Godforsaken death suffered by Jesus was, in some way that we cannot fully articulate, the death that should have been ours.”[2] Jesus praying in the garden offers us a glimpse of the weight and seriousness of our sin and just how desperately we need a Savior. It shows us the cost of bringing peace, wholeness, and healing to a broken world.
Spend a few minutes in silence before God.
Listen to the following video:
Read Ephesians 2:11-22
What do verses 14-16 say was the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross?
What needs to change in your life as a result of hearing this message about Jesus?
Finish your time of devotion today by meditating on the words of Philippians 2:6-11.
Notes:
Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 89.
Rutledge, 531.
