We need to have the tax collector moment before we can call it Good Friday! (see Luke chapter 18) Maybe we need more than just one moment. Do you think it would help us if we really could see what Jesus went through that gruesome, ghastly, and grisly Friday?
All night long, He had been questioned, insulted, and abused. Deprived of sleep He was carried to the Roman’s governor’s palace. There He was questioned more. Then taken to the courtyard of the Roman Garrison where He was bound to a post. Two Roman soldiers began to flog Him. The Roman flagrum was a whip with at least 3 stips of leather. Attached to each end was a piece of metal or a sharp bone fragment. Each lash left its mark; sometimes ripping a piece of flesh from Him. Then a crude crown made from a thorny bush was forcefully pushed down on His head. He was mocked and slapped and hit.
Then He was presented to the crowd with an option. Instead of calling for His release, they shouted, “Crucify HIM, yes crucity HIM!” The patibulum (the crossbeam of the Roman cross) was placed on His already bleeding shoulders. It weighed about 70 pounds, or more. The splinters went into those open wounds, adding to His torment. He walked approximately half a mile with the patibulum, at one point falling to the ground. When He finally arrived at the place of execution, He was forced on the ground where one of the soldiers drove long nails in His wrists. Another soldier climbed a ladder, threw a rope that was attached to each end of the patibulum, and was lifted up to the notch made for the patibulum.
As He was being lifted up to that notch, He was unable to breathe at all. The weight of His body was held by those two nails. Once the patibulum was in securely in place, His feet were positioned one on top of the other. His knees were pushed up sightly and another nail driven into both feet. This enabled the condemned to push up so they could breathe. You see, the cause of death from a Roman crucifixion was suffocation. From there the insults and mockery continued. He pushed against those nails to get another breath. Then His Father treated Him like the sinner. Now alone, He continued to suffer. He struggled to push up again just to breathe. Until. . .until He had no strength left. Without breathe in His lungs, He suffocated. And the one who breathed the breath of life into Adam, was dead. THIS was that Friday we call Good. But if you had been there as an outside observer, seeing it for the first time, it wasn’t good. It was gruesome, ghastly, and grisly.
And this morning I can’t help but to think and wonder how much it cost for us to call it good. And I’m wondering if truly know how it really was that day, for Jesus. That’s why I said We need to have the tax collector moment before we can call it Good Friday! In that parable the tax collector realized how messed up, broken up his life was. He felt the pain of his sin. And all he could utter in that moment was “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.” If we do not know we are sinners, how on earth can we know we need a Savior?
So rather than call this GOOD Friday, I challenge you to do something different! See the beaten, bruised, and bloody Jesus on the Cross. Watch Him painfully struggle for a brief gasp of air. See His agony. And know. . .know He did it all for you. Maybe, just maybe, we will stop thinking some of those horrible thoughts we have. Maybe, just maybe, we will stop justifying ourselves. Maybe, just maybe, we will see that we can’t liberate ourselves from the power of sin. Maybe, just maybe, we will finally see that it’s time to stop pretending–and become broken. Then. . .and only then can we be liberated from sin’s destructiveness. . .and begin a new life. . .the life that Jesus paid for with His Life.
Kingdom Pastor 