good friday.

The Garden of Gethsemane

³⁹ And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. ⁴⁰ When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” ⁴¹ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,⁴² saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me;yet not My will, but Yours be done.” ⁴³ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. ⁴⁵ When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Jesus Betrayed by Judas

⁴⁷ While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said to him,“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” ⁴⁹ When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.”And He touched his ear and healed him. ⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? ⁵³ While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”

Jesus’ Arrest

⁵⁴ Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. ⁵⁵ After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. ⁵⁶ And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” ⁵⁷ But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” ⁵⁸ A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” ⁵⁹ After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” ⁶⁰ But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. ⁶¹ The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him,“Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.

⁶³ Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, ⁶⁴ and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?” ⁶⁵ And they were saying many other things against Him,blaspheming.

Jesus before the Sanhedrin

⁶⁶ When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, ⁶⁷ “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; ⁶⁸ and if I ask a question, you will not answer.⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” ⁷⁰ And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” ⁷¹ Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

Pilate Seeks Jesus’ Release

¹³ Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. ¹⁵ No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. ¹⁶ Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” ¹⁷ [^[e]Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.]

¹⁸ But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” ¹⁹ (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) ²⁰ Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, ²¹ but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” ²² And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” ²³ But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. ²⁴ And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. ²⁵ And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

The Crucifixion

³³ When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. ³⁴ But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. ³⁵ And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” ³⁸ Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged there was ^[l]hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving ^[n]what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” ⁴³ And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until ^[r]the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.”⁴⁸ And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.

Jesus Is Buried

⁵⁰ And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man ⁵¹ (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; ⁵² this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. ⁵⁴ It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.⁵⁵ Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.⁵⁶ Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Good Friday is the mirror held up by Jesus so that we can see ourselves in all our stark reality, and then it turns us to that cross and to his eyes and we hear these words, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." That'sus! And so we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. We see in that cross a love so amazing so divine that it loves us even when we turn away from it, or spurn it, or crucify it. There is no faith in Jesus without understanding that on the cross we see into the heart of God and find it filled with mercy for the sinner whoever he or she may be. 

Robert G. Trache 

The God on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about, not merely in the way that God knows everything, but by experience. In the darkest night of the soul Christians have something to hold onto that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love, they cannot escape the cross. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"(Rom. 8:32) … When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? Yes, if our attention is focused more on the cross, and on the God of the cross, than on the suffering itself. 

D. A. Carson