Good Friday

Good Morning,

Today, "Good Friday," is the day that we remember the suffering and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For those of us who are Christian, that is those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior in our lives, it is a day to ponder what it is that Jesus went through for us; for each one of us as individuals and for all of us corporately. So, rather than have me try to explain what it is that I feel today, I think it's best that we read one section of Scripture that tells the story of Jesus suffering and death. And then, I will copy in here something that explains more fully, more exactly, what Jesus went through. Then, I would ask that all of us stop sometime today and simply pray for the Holy Spirit to come and touch us, each of us, with God's loving hand. Yes, this is a long read today. However, I believe it is well worth it, just as it was more than worth it for me to type this today.

Matthew 27:11-55 (NIV)
Jesus Before Pilate
Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.
"Barabbas," they answered.
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
The Crucifixion
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.

The following is something that I was given when attending one of the most moving plays, "He's Alive!" that I've ever seen. It was many years ago at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas where the story of Jesus suffering, death, and resurrection was portrayed with an emotion and reality that was all but overwhelming (Remember, this was decades before "The Passion of Christ.") I did shed many tears, I will tell you. What you read here was given out to all who attended, along with a prayer guide and the way to accept Jesus as Savior.

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

The Passion of Christ from a medical point of view, condensed from an article by C. Truman David, M.D., M.S.

The Scourging

Pilate condemns Jesus to scourging and crucifixion Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum in his hand. The flagrum is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead or small stones near the ends of each thong. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first, the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally, spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mess of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

The Crowning and Humiliation

The half fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again, there is copious bleeding for the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the body. The soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. During this time the soldiers laugh at Jesus, call Him names, spit upon Him, beat Him with their hands and fists, and humiliate Him in every way imaginable. Finally they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. This had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes excruciating pain and bleeding.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy patibulum (the cross beam weighing over one hundred pounds) is tied across His shoulders, and the procession begins its journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. The six hundred and fifty yard journey to Golgotha is finally completed. The prisoner is again stripped of his clothes – except for a loincloth, which is allowed the Jews.

The Crucifixion Begins

Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. (Crucifixes today show the nails through the palms. Roman historical accounts have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrist and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when they support the weight of a human body. The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of Jesus’ words to Thomas, “Observe my hands,” Anatomists, both modern and ancients, have always considered the wrists as part of the hand.) The legionnaire drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. Then the cross is lifted and dropped into a prepared hole in the ground. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms – the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

As the arms fatigue, waves of cramps knot them in deep, relentless pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostals muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life giving oxygen.

Hours of this pain, cycles of twisting, joint rendering cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber ensues. Then another agony begins; a crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over; the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. A sponge soaked in the cheap, sour wine is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremis and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His words, “It is finished!”

His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally, He can allow His body to die. With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His last cry, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”

My friends, I hope that what you've read has touched your heart, mind, and spirit as much as it has mine while I typed it. All I can say now is, Lord, please, forgive me my sins. Have mercy on me a sinner.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David