ZPCBlog

About the author: Lynn Thomas has been married to Dale for 34 years this month and lives in Carmel. They began attending ZPC in 1989.  They have 2 sons, ages 22 and 24. Lynn is currently an Elder.

About this post: This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for Holy Week. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text zpc devo to 39970. We welcome your comments and questions each day.

John 19:12-30

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Growing up, I remember it usually rained on Good Friday, which I thought to be kind of an oxymoron. I’ve carried that thought with me to this day, expecting it to rain every year on Good Friday. I’m disappointed when it doesn’t. It seems right to me that nature should cry out in remembrance.

It’s always been hard for me to understand why today is called Good Friday. What can be good about the day Jesus is put to death? I get that God’s ultimate plan to save mankind required a perfect sacrifice. Our sin had to be put to death. I am continually awed that Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, loved us enough to stand in our place, to be obedient, even to the point of death on a cross.  (Philippians 2:8)

It helps that I know today, Good Friday, isn’t the end of the story. We can’t have Easter without Good Friday. The disciples didn’t know the rest of the story. Imagine what they would have thought if someone told them that day was a good day? 

How often, in the midst of my life, when things aren’t going as I think they should, do I consider it a bad day or a bad thing? I wonder how anything good can come from this. Yet for me, that’s what faith is all about. It is trusting God has a good ending to a bad situation. I don’t know the end of the story, but God does. 

We call it Good Friday today because we know the story, and we know today makes the way for Easter. 

Activity

As I write this, there is only a 10% chance of rain, but my guess is, it will rain today. At the very least, it will rain somewhere. Rain or shine, take a few moments to ponder what Good Friday means to you. Praise God for the gift he has given us through Jesus on that first Good Friday.

Prayer

Lord,

Thank you that in your ultimate wisdom, you had a plan to save us. Thank you that Jesus was obedient to make your plan our reality. Help us to trust you to make each day good as we are a part of your continuing story.

Amen

Share