Day 6
April 22, 2011 (Friday)
Friday of Holy Week is known today as “Good Friday,” so named because on that day Jesus made our salvation possible.
Here’s what happened on Friday of that final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry:
Jesus was first taken to the house of Annas, the former High Priest, out of respect for him and the office he had held before Caiaphas became High Priest. Then He was forced to stand before Caiaphas, the High Priest, and the Sanhedrin (gathered informally, because they could not legally meet until daylight). He was summarily condemned at both places. He was struck at the house of Annas, and here he was blindfolded and mocked, then escorted to another building to await the sunrise and formal sentence. On the way, he heard Peter deny Him for the third time. As their eyes met, Peter ran out into the night and wept bitterly in shame.
As soon as daylight arrived, the Sanhedrin met in formal session, and condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy. They could not, however, carry out the death sentence; only the Romans could do that. So they took him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who examined Jesus and found him guilty of nothing, but sent him to Herod, who had jurisdiction over Galilee, the province from which Jesus came. Herod simply sent Him back to Pilate. After meager efforts to release Jesus, Pilate yielded to the mob and gave sentence of death by crucifixion. Jesus was then scourged, mocked, cruelly mistreated, and made to bear His cross to the place of crucifixion. He was so weak from the mistreatment that a man randomly picked from the roadside spectators, Simon of Cyrene, was compelled to bear the cross to Golgotha.
As they drove nails into His hands and feet, Jesus prayed, asking His Father to forgive them. From the cross he forgave one of the criminals crucified with him. Looking down at His mother, He committed her to the care of John. After three hours of darkness, at about 3:00 p.m., Jesus cried, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” He said, “I thirst.” He announced, “It is finished!” then bowed his head and died, his last words from the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Loving hands hastily prepared his body for burial and placed it in a friend’s tomb before the arrival of Sabbath at sunset.