The day the goodness of Jesus shone brightest was the darkest day in history.
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:45-46).
Today is the historical placeholder for the day that Jesus died. This is no recreational matter. The words, “Jesus died” are theologically packed in that a man and God laid His life down for unworthy people. This is the culmination of 33 years of life with 3 years of ministry done by the most missional and Kingdom-minded man in all of time. The God-man would experience death in a way that only He should be exempt from. His death and everything leading up to it was no way to treat the King welcomed into Jerusalem by His followers, less than one week prior.
“They clothed Him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking His head with a reed and spitting on Him and kneeling down in homage to Him… And they led Him out to crucify Him” (Mark 15:17-20).
To die an undeserved death was shameful. To be crucified as a criminal was blasphemy. Jesus, the One worthy of all and to whom all people will worship (Phil. 2:10), was mocked and beaten to the bloody boiling point at which He had to hold His insides in place. He was unrecognizable, as King or human, to anyone. Indeed, He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 52:14, which says, “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind.” Christ, the true Messiah, endured torture and crucifixion that was completely undeserved. He endured what you and I deserve tenfold.
That is one of the many paradoxes of Good Friday. Others follow:
The darkest day in history was the brightest hope for salvation. The Father forsook Jesus, as He cannot be in the presence of sin (Psa. 5:4). In one moment, the only place in which the world was judged for sin was the most precious vessel of eternity. The most undeserving shoulders bore the heaviest weight and judgment. The only able-bodied God-man was burdened with the absence of God and, for the first time ever, the presence of sin. A bright day for man was a dark day for Christ.
“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.’So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.’” (Jn. 19:1-6).
As Jesus’ persecutors mocked Him, they inadvertently proclaimed Jesus as Lord. In ignorance and malice, the Romans and others charged everyone to “hail the King of the Jews!” (Jn. 9:13). Though they hit Him and beat Him while doing this, they proclaimed, with deranged minds, that Jesus was exactly who He said He was. With a reed in His hand, they knelt before the True King. God does not deserve mere physical kneeling, though. Those who truly worship Him, in Spirit and truth (Jn. 4:24), worship by kneeling their lives to Him. Perhaps this did not happen on Good Friday. But the King of Glory will receive worship, realized in Spirit and truth, from every knee and every tongue in due time (Phil. 2:10-11).
The One crowned with thorns will be the One to remove all thorns. With more than two-inch-long nails piercing His brow, the blessed Savior hung. For hours, the Messiah bled liquid glory that hit the ground, puddled at Golgotha, and screamed that the pain endured should not be. But He endured it.
Do you think you have endured existential pain in your lifetime? The physical (excluding the spiritual) persecution that Christ felt this day far outweighs that; and it needs to. Christ has felt, in fullness, the weight of temptation, pain, and condemnation for sin. Being near to the brokenhearted (Psa. 34:18) only comes by being brokenhearted. God is nearer than you know. He offers the deepest comforts to the mind and soul, knowing and feeling everything as you have. For through His death, He becomes the only One to experience the ends of pain - and live.
The death of Christ is vital. It is gruesome and disgusting and beautifully necessary. Every agonizing grunt, every attempt to raise Himself up just so much to catch another breath shows the world that Christ loves the unlovable. Every second of three dark hours this fateful night shows that light can still be found. The paradoxes of Good Friday show the importance of Christ’s death and the beauty of a God who writes the end.
Ponder the gory scene that took place (for your salvation) so long ago. Don’t look forward to Sunday until you have felt the weight of your own sin. Every false accusation, every lie and manipulation was a thorn in His brow. Every lustful look, every greedy motive was the blood pouring out of His side. You did this. I did this. Only God can save from this. Contemplate the destruction of your sin. Then when you have come upon the brink of utter ruin, read on.
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