April 10, 2019 (Friday)
Today is known as “Good Friday.” No one seems to know precisely why. It is possible that it was originally called, “God’s Friday,” and that it eventually became “Good Friday,” in much the same way that “God be with you” eventually became “Goodbye.” A very practical reason for me is that the result of the suffering of Jesus that day has been good, because it brought us salvation. Why else would we “cherish the old rugged cross?”
The day goes by many different designations, usually associated with a particular language. Take a look at the Wikipedia article on “Good Friday” for some of those.
The main thing for us is not what we call the day, but what we think about when we observe it. It is the day on which Jesus was crucified.
After his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was taken directly to the house of Annas, who was no longer the high priest but was respected as such as long as he lived. From there he was taken to the house of Caiaphas (son-in-law of Annas), the reigning high priest, with the Sanhedrin present. Caiaphas pronounced judgment. Then, in what amounts to a separated judgment, he called for the Sanhedrin to condemn him. All these arraignments took place before dawn, which made them illegal. They were therefore not formal trials, even though condemnation of Jesus was pronounced by those officially empowered to judge. For all practical purposes, Jesus was tried three times before dawn.
Jesus was kept confined in a separate place until the Sanhedrin could legally meet. On the way to that place, he heard Peter deny him, paused momentarily as their eyes met, and Peter felt the pain of guilt for his rash words. As he awaited the sunrise, Jesus was shamefully mistreated by his guards.
As soon as daylight came, the Sanhedrin met formally to condemn Jesus to death for blasphemy, because he affirmed that he was the Christ, the Son of God. They could pronounce such judgment, but it had no legal weight because the law allowed only Romans to give the death penalty. They then took Jesus to Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea, calling for his blood and inciting the growing crowd to cry out for crucifixion. Upon hearing that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent him to Herod, the king, who had that jurisdiction. Herod quickly sent him back to Pilate, who then gave the order to crucify Jesus. Count the trials, illegal and legal, and you will find seven of them. All this before the day was well under way. Just as the Jewish guards had mistreated Jesus, so the Roman soldiers inflicted needless indignities and torture upon him. Already weakened by barbarous physical and mental abuse, Jesus was crucified at 9:00 a.m. on that eventful day we have come to know as Good Friday.
He suffered greatly, and at 3:00 p.m., bowed his head and died. Friends took him down from the cross and buried him in a tomb that was owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The Romans sealed the tomb with a huge stone and with the seal of state. (From a Gaither musical:) “They said, ‘There! That’s that!’ ……but it wasn’t.” As a great sermon declares, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’!”
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THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
George Bennard
1913
On a hill far away stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suff’ring and shame
And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God left his Glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine
A wondrouse beauty I see
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To pardon and sanctify me.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
CHORUS:
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it some day for a crown