[Pastor Dave shares his reflections on the week that marks Jesus’ final days before He died on the cross. To help us reflect on the events of the Lord throughout this week, he is sharing one note per day to highlight what Scripture tells us Jesus was doing on that particular day. The days are listed in latest to earliest.]

     FRIDAY


A couple of weeks ago I went down to the Chapel in the Woods, a simple, natural clearing on our back property where we have placed terracing and benches. It’s a great place for reflection and prayer.

I had gone there on a Tuesday evening a few minutes before others would come for prayer and found the benches already occupied. The threesome sitting there greeted me when I walked up. I told them that I was a pastor (and they didn’t run away, screaming). They introduced themselves, all high schoolers, and we chatted for a few minutes.

During our brief time together I mentioned that Easter was coming and invited them to the 6:30am Sunrise Service that would be held right there in the Chapel in the Woods. They seemed genuinely interested. Then I told them about our Good Friday evening service.

When I said “Good Friday” one of the teens had a quizzical look on her face, so I explained, “We call the day Jesus died ’Good Friday’”, immediately realizing how incongruous that must sound to someone who doesn’t know the story.

So, I proceeded to explain (the two minute version) that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He paid the price for our forgiveness. He invites everyone to place their trust in Him for eternal life. Good Friday is good for us.

When I finished, the gal with the quizzical look on her face turned thoughtful and said, “I’ve never heard that before.”

On this Good Friday, listen to the story as if you’ve never heard it before.

Jesus of Nazareth lived a perfect life. He taught as no one had ever taught, loved as no one had ever loved, and performed miracles by the power of God.

At the end of the His three year public ministry, Jesus turned His face toward Jerusalem and walked into what He knew would be a crucible of unparalleled suffering.

On the last night of His life (Thursday) He was betrayed by a friend, delivered over to His own people and condemned for blasphemy. During that trial He was denied three times by another friend.

Early on Friday morning He was turned over to the civil authorities who condemned Him to death by crucifixion for treason.

He endured a brutal beating called “scourging” (called “the halfway death”) and then was force marched from the place of beating to the place of execution. There, soldiers nailed His hands and feet to a wooden cross and raised the cross to an upright position.

Jesus hung on the cross for six hours on Friday. While on the cross He took care of His mother and gave salvation to a fellow sufferer. He spoke a word of forgiveness to His tormentors, suffered physically like few ever have and suffered spiritually like no one ever has.

At the end, having accomplished the work He came to earth to do of offering Himself as a sacrifice for your sins and mine, He cried out, “It is finished” - and breathed His last.

Today is Friday. We call it Good Friday. At first blush it is an odd name for us, Jesus’ followers, to give to the day our Lord died.

On THAT Friday not one of Jesus’ disciples would have dreamed of calling it “good.” Not then. But that was Friday.

By late on Sunday morning, of course, everything had changed! Jesus was alive!! And today you and I now see the events of that Friday in a whole new light.

Nothing has changed concerning the suffering of Jesus. It was still an unfathomably terrible day of torment for Him. But now, in light of the empty cross, we see the redemptive meaning behind the cross. And we call it good.

On the cross, Jesus suffered and died to bring us to God. He died, not as a martyr and not as an example. He died as a sacrifice. He took the punishment that was due us. And now, anyone who believes in Him (John 3:16) has eternal life.

Good Friday is good for you IF you have believed in Jesus. If you have never placed the treasure of your trust in Him for eternal life, do so now.

Run to Jesus and find mercy, forgiveness, a clean slate and a fresh start. Let His, “It is finished” be applied to your soul. Trust Him for salvation and you will understand just how GOOD Good Friday really is.

     THURSDAY


We expect loyalty from friends. We expect friends to have our backs when life turns sour. And in the same way, we want to be loyal to our friends. We want to give the gifts of support and presence when our friends face hardship. We want them to know that we will be there for them. They can count on us when the chips are down.

Jesus’ Thursday revealed friends who were NOT there for Him. On Thursday we get a glimpse of the lonely road He travelled to meet His destiny with torture and crucifixion.

With little more than twenty four hours of life left, Jesus gave His disciples orders to prepare a room for them to enjoy a meal together. All thirteen of them gathered in that upper room in a home in Jerusalem to eat. During supper, Jesus rose to take care of the important detail that none of the twelve had wanted to do. He - the Lord and Master - washed their dirty, grimy feet.

Then, resuming His place at the table, He spoke of a betrayer in their midst. He predicted loss of courage for them all. He predicted Peter’s denials. He told them of His own soon-to-come departure and of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He told them of persecutions to come and of their secure future in Him. (See John 13-17)

Late on that Thursday night, they moved from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus prayed, asking Peter, James, and John to watch and pray for Him. They promptly fell asleep - x 3.

When a mob of soldiers and priests and servants came to arrest Jesus (Judas’ kiss of betrayal identifying Him as “the one”), the disciples all fled into the night, leaving Him alone to stand trial all night long where He suffered numerous indignities and illegalities.

The indignities included mocking, blindfolding, and slaps in the face. Certainly mild physical abuse compared to what He would suffer later. The illegalities included the place and time of the trial, a too-quick verdict, conflicting testimony by the witnesses, and much, much more. While His trials were going on, Simon Peter - Rocky! - was denying that he even knew who Jesus was.

On Thursday we look at Jesus and see raw courage and undeterred resolve and unalloyed love.

No doubt Jesus would have enjoyed prayer support in the Garden. No doubt watching the disciples flee into the night was painful. No doubt that listening to Peter deny Him wounded Him deeply. But none of that trumped His loving commitment to continue with the plan that would have Him offering Himself on Friday as a perfect sacrifice for people like me and you, people who so obviously need deliverance from the power and penalty of sin.

Today, we worship a loving Savior who was willing to go it alone, to bring us to God.

     WEDNESDAY


Sabbath rest. In 2014 we know little of Sabbath rest. Ours is life-on-the-go, always on the move, pedal to the metal, in touch, online, connected, 24/7.

To say the least, this is not what God intended. He orchestrated a week that included rest to give time to recuperate from work and time to refresh for more work.

The normal pattern was six days on, one day off, a pattern that followed God’s creative work. (Genesis 1-2) But rest is helpful and useful and allowable when necessary, even when it doesn’t follow the 6/1 pattern.

Jesus’ final Wednesday was a creative exercise of Sabbath rest.

Tuesday was a breathless rush of activity to activity, confrontation to confrontation, teaching to parable to equipping to rebuke. Tuesday went hard from sunrise to sunset with no rest.

Not so Wednesday. Wednesday is the silent day.

There is no record of Jesus teaching on Wednesday. No prophecies and no confrontations, no parades and no parables. Jesus used Wednesday as a Sabbath rest for His soul before the suffering of the cross fell.

That is not to say that Wednesday was not productive. It was VERY productive. He rested on Wednesday. On Wednesday He regained energy lost from an over-busy Tuesday and on Wednesday He refueled for the ordeal ahead.

Wednesday marked two days and counting, forty eight hours, before His passion. He rested to be fully prepared to do what He had come to earth to accomplish, to die on the cross for your sins.

On Wednesday we worship a Savior who loved us so much He rested so that He could give Himself when the time to give came.

     TUESDAY


I’m easily distracted. Maybe it’s due to living in a world of constantly updating social media, newsfeeds, blogs, and Facebook. For me, focus is a perpetual challenge. In fact, if it is true (as I was told years ago) that “the main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing,” then I will admit to struggling with the main thing!

According to the author of the book of Hebrews, Jesus knew every temptation we will ever face (2:18), which means that He may well have been tempted to lose focus on the main thing. Unlike me, Jesus never lost focus. He never took His eyes off the ball of what was REALLY important before God - even when constantly bombarded with the attempts of enemies to derail Him.

Tuesday was the busiest day of the last week of Jesus’ life. He went hard from very early until very late and much of His Tuesday activity took place in the Temple. On this final Tuesday, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and others tried to trip Him up with tricky questions. He remained fixed.

Sandwiched in between these intense confrontations with religious leaders and His final scathing indictment of them for hypocrisy (see Matthew 23), we come across one of the most touching scenes of His life.

From the far side of the Court of the Women, Jesus watched as a “poor widow” gave a tiny amount of money as an offering at the Temple in Jerusalem.

After watching her, He showcased this woman’s generosity, telling His disciples that she “put in more” than all the other wealthier people who gave that day because she gave sacrificially. (See Mark 12:38-40; Luke 21:1-4)

Sacrifice.

Jesus was especially focused on sacrifice on Tuesday, knowing that His own sacrifice on a Roman cross was only seventy hours away. He never lost focus on what was important to God. On this Tuesday we worship our self-sacrificing Savior.

 

     MONDAY


I suspect that all of us have had the experience of coming close to something we have anticipated for a long time. The Spurs enter the week before the long-expected playoffs. A woman with child begins to feel Braxton-Hicks contractions. A marathoner passes the twenty mile mark.

In each case, there is a sense that we have turned a corner. We are on the homestretch. One last push and there will be a payoff for all the discomfort, effort, pain and waiting.

After the Triumphal Entry of His last Sunday, Jesus went back to Jerusalem on Monday. Among the events of that Monday was a visit that He considered as noteworthy as any boxer considers the bell sounding the final round.

Philip and Andrew approached Jesus with news that some non-Jews (Gentiles) were seeking Him. “We wish to see Jesus” were their exact words.

That - being sought out by people who were not the people of God, prompted Jesus to say, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

We remember that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. When the lost came seeking Him, He knew the time was upon Him. Less than ninety six hours and He would be hanging from the cross. His race was almost run.

What GOSPEL (good news!) that Jesus didn’t stop at mile 20. His last week has begun. He’s not finished yet and He will press on until the work He came to accomplish is finished. On Monday, we worship our faithful, persevering Savior.

 

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