Skip to main content

Good Friday, John 19:1-37

 Have you ever watched a movie with an ending you didn’t expect? I remember seeing a movie with some friends in high school that left us so confused that we had to debrief immediately in the movie theater once credits rolled. That is what I imagine it felt like to be one of Jesus’ disciples on the day of His death. There they were, watching the crowd take the man who was supposed to change everything, and kill Him as if He were a criminal. I often wonder if there was anyone who understood that it was happening according to plan.

The fact of the matter is that this what was supposed to happen. This was part of the greatest victory ever won in history. Up to this point, death has been the debt that all men pay. Up to this point, sin still held man captive. Because of Adam, human nature was defined by sin. Therefore, we needed someone else to come through and redefine it. The only option was to defeat sin and death itself. How exactly do you do that? Well, we learn from Jesus that the first step was dying for all of our sins. Jesus was innocent because He spoke the truth. The story of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion reveals to us that not much has changed since the Garden of Eden: God speaks and humans don’t listen. Note that each time Pilate refers to Jesus as the King of the Jews, the Jews reject Jesus and demand His crucifixion. When Pilate tries to release Jesus, the Jews push back by referring to Caesar as the ultimate authority. Pilate ultimately acknowledges his allegiance to the rules. The point is that both the Jews and Pilate rejected Jesus as King, because they wanted to serve their own desires. The Jews wanted to keep the status quo, and Pilate wanted to obey Caesar and keep the peace. No one wanted to obey the one true King. 

That is why we needed Jesus to die, because we could never have been truly obedient to God as we were called to be without His help. Because of Jesus, death no longer reigns over us as it once did. We know this from Jesus’ words, “it is finished.” In the original language, the tense of this verb communicates that the present action has future implications. So Jesus’ death is one that reverberates throughout history as a sign that death does that have the final word over us, despite our natural tendency to disregard God’s authority. Despite our sinfulness, we have a chance to die to death and live with Jesus. This is why we needed His death, and this is why we can say today is “Good” Friday. Let us consider Jesus’ example of obedience, even unto death, as we continue to wrestle with our own disobedience towards God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Racism is sin. Let's treat it that way." by Sam Vaughn

Racism is sin . People are sinners. I am a person. I am a sinner. I am stained by the sin of racism. I commit the sin of racism. I omit the righteous deeds that undo and push back the sin of racism. I have stayed silent when it benefited me, rather than speaking when it would have benefited my brothers and sisters of color. I have defaulted to judgment rather than sorrow, when an unarmed Black person is shot to death. I remember when Michael Brown was shot and killed, watching the news coverage, the first thing I focused on was what he ‘must have done to cause it.’ I sought for a flaw in Michael Brown’s character as if that should be worthy of death. I engaged with other nationally covered events in a similar way. Embracing a narrative that made me comfortable was functionally more important to me than the God-given lives of image bearers like Eric Garner and Tamir Rice. I have been indifferent, and uncaring. Over the past year I have ignored the increase in violent hate crimes agains
Post a Comment
Read more

Manna for the Moment

At Northside Church of Richmond, we desire earnestly to be joyful worshipers, nurturing family, and engaged neighbors always, and we are seeking ways to spur us on towards those things creatively right now. One way we're trying is by creating a space where we can interact and be nourished, encouraged, and connected to one another to keep pointing each other to God's Truths to steady us, to shape us, and to send us out in His ways. Be on the lookout for devotional writings with meditations on God's Word, videos of encouragement, and other creative offerings from our church body. Reach out to Adrianne Thompson with questions or comments: adriannevthompson@gmail.com
Post a Comment
Read more

The ARC of Racial Justice - a Reflection and Exhortation from Pastor Matt Lorish

Here we are again. The video footage of Ahmaud Arbery is all over social media. It is a time for lament and a time for righteous anger. I write this blog post as a continuation to the initial posts offered by Northside Church members. My aim in this post is to help my fellow white brothers and sisters think about where we go from here. At the close of Jemar Tisby’s book, The Color of Compromise , he introduces a framework that he calls the A.R.C. of racial justice. Using Jemar’s framework, I’d like to humbly offer some application points that I think are important for me and my fellow white sisters and brothers at Northside Church to move towards. I also write this as a Christian pastor. Christians of all ethnicities are Bible people. The end-game for us isn’t just racial justice. The end-game for us is conformity to Jesus and honoring Him. Racial injustice is one of the areas in which we need God’s Spirit to change us, grow us and conform us (Rom 12:2, 2 Cor 3:18). My prayer is
1 comment
Read more