Good Friday

Not many people read the Bible, but if they did and they happened to open up to Isaiah 52-53 in the Old Testament, this is what they'd find:

52:13 Behold, my servant shall prosper,he shall be exalted and lifted up,and shall be very high.
52:14 As many were astonished at him his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men
52:15 so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.
53:1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,and no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
53:11 he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

There are many remarkable things about this passage but most striking to me is that it was written 700 years before Jesus lived. It is the most famous Messianic propjecy in the Bible and even those not familiar with the Bible can't help but recognise the person of Jesus Christ descibed in its words.

For this, and many other reasons, I am a follower of Jesus and today quietly acknowledge again the irony of this day, Good Friday.

Good Friday

Today is the day that commemorates the death of Jesus Christ, the oddly named Good Friday.

It was an unusual day in history.

Jesus, a Jewish teacher, had only been "known" for three years.

He taught people about God in way that was new and different, revealing a personal God, not just an arbiter of rules.

He touched sick people and healed them, even those with leprosy, the AIDS of his day.

Jesus did miraculous things, verifying his authority over the earth and it's elements; turning water into wine, walking on water, feeding huge crowds of people with a few fish and a bread rolls, restored sight to blind people and much more.

He went further. He raised people who were dead back to life, literally stopping funerals and digging up graves to restore people from death.

His teachings were inspired. They carry weight to the present day and are believed and observed by millions of people throughout the world, not just Christians.

When questioned he stated that the whole of God's laws could be summed up in two simple rules. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour the same way you love yourself.

Like him or not, agree or disagree with the Christian faith, I challenge anyone to apply those two rules and not find peace and meaning and fulfillment and become a better person. If the world truly embraced those two rules it would be radically transformed.

But, in a foretaste of the trouble that would follow and echo throughout the centuries, the religious leaders of the day were threatened by his popularity and following, confronted by his relationship with God and jealous of his power and authority. So, they killed him. Late one night they bribed one of his followers to betray him, arrested him, and brought him to trial. They falsely accused him, called witnesses who could not agree or prove any wrong-doing and threatened him with death unless he repudiated his claim to be the Son of God.

I've seen a few real life trials, and plenty on TV and movies, but never one like this. Why was this one different? Because Jesus did not say a word to defend himself. Despite the lies and false accusations made against him he remained silent, allowing them to carry out their sham trial and their supreme act of injustice.

History, the Bible, and witnesses all concur that Jesus had no crime or sin ever recorded against him. He was completely innocent. King Herod and Pontius Pilate both admitted this fact, saying they found nothing against him, certainly nothing worthy of death. But the religious leaders stirred the crowd and turned them against Jesus, demanding that he be crucified. Still Jesus did not protest his innocence or defend himself. He allowed them to carry out their evil actions, right through to a barbaric death by crucifixion, impaled on a cross with spikes through his hands and feet, left in excruciating pain to die of suffocation when he no longer had the strength to raise himself up to breathe by pushing against the spikes through his feet.

It was an horrific way to die. And yet, despite the enormity of the injustice, even on the cross Jesus continued to show love and compassion for other people, calling on God to forgive the very people who were killing him, because they didn't know what they were doing.

Impossible as it is, try putting yourself in Jesus's shoes and consider your reactions in the same circumstances.
I daresay you would not have acted in the same way.

You would not have stayed silent at trial.
You would not have prayed for your killers to be forgiven.
You would not have quietly accepted the death penalty for something you didn't do.

This was no ordinary death because this was no ordinary man. Jesus knew their was a plan. There was a reason he had to die. He knew that his death was planned by God as the single greatest act in the history of mankind because through his death God was able to offer forgiveness to the world for all of it's sin and rebellion.

A little known detail of the crucifixion is that at the moment of his death on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The barrier which had always existed between man and God's presence on earth was torn apart, removed forever. It was as if God himself reached down from heaven and ripped it up, opening the way for man to have free and unfettered access to God. Prior to that, entry to the Holiest place was punishable by death! Now it was open for anyone to come in. It was a symbol of what Jesus achieved by his death, opening the way for people to come to God, by faith and trust in him and what he did on our behalf.


Another thing that is probably not well known or appreciated is how quickly these events took place. The whole time frame from arrest to crucifixion was about 9 hours, with a further 6 hours until Jesus' actual death. We are so used to criminals spending 10-15 years awaiting execution it's hard to conceive that such an important trial and execution was carried out with such phenomenal haste.

It's an amazing story, an incredible event, and the reason, quite rightly, today is known as Good Friday.
It was a bad day for Jesus personally, but a great day for the world.

The full extent of it's significance was not understood however until Sunday.

In one final irony, I am quite sure that the vast majority of people who celebrate or observe Easter this year will concentrate on chocolate easter eggs as the major symbol and meaning of the holiday!

That's amazing!!