Good Friday
Read Mark 15:33-37
The longest night gives way to morning
as Jesus, beaten beyond recognition
and bleeding from head to toe,
staggers physically strengthless under
the weight of his own cross towards
the crucifixion site at Golgotha (Mark
15:22).
Moments later Jesus, nails driven
through his wrists and feet, is raised up
on his cross. On one of the cruelest
means of torture mankind has ever
devised, the one labelled the King of
the Jews (Mark 15:26) is in agony.
His crucifixion is a very public
spectacle. The same crowd who had
been whipped into a "crucify him"
frenzy by the religious leaders merely
minutes before have now gathered
around Jesus to continue their
mocking.
One of the thieves crucified alongside
Jesus joins in with the crowd as they
insult and mock him for his inability to
save himself. They do not realise that if
this King saves himself their only hope
for salvation is lost. The other thief,
however, sees Jesus for who he really
is and receives the gift of life when he
asks the Messiah to remember him
(Luke 23:39-43). Salvation is coming.
As the clock strikes midday, the skies
above the land turn dark (Mark 15:33).
Jesus, the Son of God is embracing
the full wrath of his Father so that we
might taste eternal life. He has become
sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), crying
out in a loud voice of isolation, "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" (Mark 15:34, Psalm 22:1). It is
the single greatest display of love and
surrendered obedience the world has
ever seen and will ever see.
Shortly after, having drained the cup
he prayed would pass him by, and
having experienced the full curse of
sin, Jesus wilfully gives up his life in
three words that inextricably weave our
past, present and future together and
still echo into eternity to this day:
"It is finished" (John 19:30).
As Jesus commits his spirit into the
hands of his Father and dies (Luke
23:46), the temple curtain is torn from
top to bottom (Mark 15:38). What once
separated us from God's holy
presence is forever gone, overcome by
grace. For on this, the darkest day in
history, our Saviour has made a way
back to the Father for all humanity as
he restored on the cross the mess sin
unravelled in the garden. "Surely this
man was (and is) the Son of God!"
(Mark 15:39).
Salvation has come. Salvation is here!