“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.“
(Luke 18:19 NIV)
Today is “Good Friday,” a day my children used to mix up with “Black Friday.” Although our society knows what the modern “Black Friday” means, I think the original “Good Friday” was also a “Black Friday.” If you, like me, have been in church very long, you’ve heard the Passion Week stories over and over…and over and over… and… sometimes we become too comfortable with their familiarity. I invite you to read the story in a newer translation, but read slowly. Breathe in the atmosphere of the settings. Listen to the background noise as you watch the story unfold. Taste the air or smell the smells. Follow Jesus closely during these hours. Ask Holy Spirit what new things he wants to show you in this ancient story about a Black Good Friday.
“After Jesus finished this prayer; he left with his disciples and went across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden. Judas, the traitor, knew where this place was, for Jesus had gone there often with his disciples. The Pharisees and the leading priests had given Judas a large detachment of Roman soldiers and temple police to seize Jesus. Judas guided them to the garden, all of them carrying torches and lanterns and armed with swords and spears. Jesus, knowing full well what was about to happen, went out to the garden entrance to meet them. Stepping forward, he asked, “Who are you looking for?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. (Now Judas, the traitor, was among them.)
He replied, “I am he.”
You are a disciple, back in a familiar place. You’ve come to pray here regularly but tonight is different. Usually this quiet space is filled with quiet and beautiful plants and flowers – natural and beautiful fragrances. But tonight there are noises of soldier’s outfits and weapons, snorting horses, disgruntled attitudes. You see torches, lanterns, weapons, sweaty, gruff soldiers and police.
Why would Jesus immediately respond that he was the One for whom they were looking?
“Then the soldiers and their captain, along with the Jewish officers, seized Jesus and tied him up. They took him first to Annas, as he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had persuaded the Jewish leaders that it would be better off to have one person die for the sake of the people. The high priest interrogated Jesus concerning his disciples and his teachings. Jesus answered Annas’ questions by saying, “I have said nothing in secret. At all times I have taught openly and publicly in a synagogue, in the temple courts, and wherever the people assemble. Why would you ask me for evidence to condemn me? Ask those who have heard what I’ve taught. They can tell you.”
“Just then one of the guards standing near Jesus punched him in the face with his fist and said, “How dare you answer the high priest like that!” Jesus replied, “If my words are evil, then prove it. But if I haven’t broken any laws, then why would you hit me?”
You’ve seen Jesus deal with the religious leaders and they’ve never been able to touch his words or actions. His kindness, gentleness, and self control have always been on display, even when he’s teaching the crowds or healing the sick. His compassion and mercy and the truth he speaks are phenomenal. But now a guard punches him and he still doesn’t react. How can Jesus keep from hitting back when he’s being so mistreated??
“Before dawn they took Jesus from his trial before Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s palace…Pilate came outside where they waited and asked them pointedly, “Tell me, what exactly is the accusation that you bring against this man? What has he done?” They answered, “We wouldn’t be coming here to hand over this ‘criminal’ to you if he wasn’t guilty of some wrongdoing!” Pilate said, “Very well, then you take him yourselves and go pass judgment on him according to your Jewish laws!” But the Jewish leaders complained and said, “We don’t have legal authority to put anyone to death. You should have him crucified!”
A Roman governor’s palace was probably one of the nicest residences in the area, likely surrounded by walls to keep out the sights, smells, noises, and riff-raff of the city. With servants, his own security detail, and the full weight of the Roman government behind him, Pilate would have been a force with which to be reckoned. He probably did not get his job by playing nice. He knew how to do what must be done to keep the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace – in these backwater towns in the farther reaches of the Empire. Yet, here’s the sniveling Jewish leaders wanting him to step into their controversy and crucify someone they don’t like. How annoying this must have been for Pilate!
Pilate went back inside his palace and summoned Jesus. Looking him over, Pilate asked him, “Are you really the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Are you asking because you really want to know, or are you only asking this because others have said it about me?” Pilate responded, “Only a Jew would care about this; do I look like a Jew? It’s your own people and your religious leaders that have handed you over to me.
Pilate did state business early in the morning, and this conversation could have happened even before sunrise. Jesus was probably exhausted – spiritually exhausted from praying all night with disciples who fell asleep, emotionally exhausted from his disciples reactions and his own awareness of what was coming, and physically exhausted from being up all night, then being handled roughly when he was arrested and hit. Would we have seen sweat on his brow? Heard a tremor in his voice? Would we have sensed the tension in his body, knowing full well what the next nine hours would contain for Jesus?
“Then Pilate ordered Jesus to be brutally beaten with a whip of leather straps embedded with metal. And the soldiers also wove thorn-branches into a crown and set it on his head and placed a purple robe over his shoulders. Then, one by one, they came in front of him to mock him by saying, “Hail, to the king of the Jews!” And one after the other, they repeatedly punched him in the face…Pilate asked the crowd, “Shall I nail your king to a cross?” The high priests answered, “We have no other king but Caesar!” Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them. So the soldiers seized him and took him away to be crucified.
You remember the “Hosannas” and palm branches waved in adoration for Jesus just a few days ago. Now there’s thorn branches woven into a painful crown, shoved on his forehead. The soldiers are used to torturing criminals on their way to crucifixion and this morning is no different. Their strength and brutality are on full display – all in a day’s work for them. Just another criminal the state is putting to death.
Except, for you, he’s not just another criminal. It’s your Lord, your Rabbi, your Messiah, your Jesus. And he’s on his way to the dreaded Place of the Skull – Golgotha – for a very painful, very public death.
This Good Friday is very, very, very black.
God,
Walk with us as we walk with you the Via Dolorosa – the Way of Suffering. Teach us, mold us, uphold us on this blackest of Good Fridays. We pray in Jesus’s name. Amen
Bible text from John 18 & 19, The Passion Translation