"Good" Friday?
- Christine DiGiacomo
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Some of you know what Good Friday observance you will attend - and yes, in some parts of the world, you have already attended. On the other hand, some who are reading are unsure of what really went down on this day in history ... if anything went down, and what difference it could possibly make today.
And for the love, why in the world would anyone call this "Good" Friday?!
Come with me.
Finally, the procession reaches the top of Mount Calvary. Jesus and two criminals are to be crucified. Jesus is stripped naked, his bruised and bloodied arms outstretched on the rough wood...a five-inch long, three-eighths-inch square nail is driven through each of his hands, actually, more the wrists. Crucifixion is meant to be humiliating beyond compare, excruciating without equal, as each painful hour drags by before death by suffocation eventually occurs . . . it is horrific. The soldiers bend Jesus’ knees, place his feet flat against the wood, and drive a nail through each foot. At high noon, the soldiers raise the cross, and position its base in the hole, and drop it in with a jarring thud.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness comes over all the land. The Light of the World is about to be extinguished. The darkness is a cosmic sign. Though it is midday, the sunlight is blocked--perhaps a reaction to the Son of God being put to death. About the ninth hour, Jesus cries out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!"which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?"1 (Does your heart, like my own, ache at Jesus' isolation, as his Father looks away from him as he becomes our sin?)
When some of those standing near hear this, they say, "He's calling Elijah."
Later, knowing that all is now complete, and so that Scripture could be
fulfilled, Jesus says, "I am thirsty." Immediately, one of them runs to get a sponge, fills it with wine vinegar, puts it on a stick, and offers it to Jesus
to drink.
When he has received the drink, Jesus says, "It is finished." "Tetelestai!" Jesus calls out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
"Tetelestai!" He utters, and then draws his last breath. It was a Greek expression, but everyone standing within earshot would have understood what Jesus was saying. "It is finished." Tetelestai when used in accounting, meant "paid in full." Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with the word written across them . . . interesting. With Jesus' dying breath, our sin was paid in full; our debt was cancelled.2
A man named Joseph (of Arimathea), a member of the Sanhedrin, goes to Pilate and asks to care for the body of Jesus. He takes a big risk supporting Jesus by making such a request. All of the disciples, except John, have fled the scene, concerned that their close relationship with Jesus will find them imprisoned or worse, executed. It is not a safe time to make a show of support for Jesus--too much risk, too much unknown. So it is particularly unusual that Joseph and Nicodemus (a Pharisee and Jewish ruler), request to take Jesus.
And besides, this is no small labor; the burial spices that Nicodemus brings weigh about 95 pounds. The women also bring spices with which to wrap the body. Interesting. With all that they are doing, do you think they believe that Jesus is going to awaken from death, be resurrected? Are they even thinking about it? I just can’t imagine that they are.
I remember when my father died, in 1998. I was driving on the highway, en route to my oldest son's high school basketball game, when I got the call. I turned the car around and headed for the hospital morgue. I told Dad 'good bye' that day, face-to-face, but his body had already begun to set, and he was no longer my dad.
When a body has drawn its last breath, rigor mortis begins to set in--first in the smallest muscles such as those in the face and hands, and then extending to the muscles in the limbs, causing them to stiffen—like my dad’s; the mouth is slack and seems to freeze while agape.
In our culture, we do not typically handle our loved one's lifeless bodies - certainly not in preparing them for burial; but families and loved ones in Jesus' day did. When Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross, they rubbed his stiff arms to remove the rigor mortis, (which kept them in a Vshape), and then carefully washed his bloody, bruised body. Then they anointed Jesus with oil and wrapped him in one long linen cloth. They tied a separate napkin under his chin to keep his mouth from falling open after the muscles loosen.
Then they wrapped Jesus' body from head to toe in long strips of linen, using spiced resin and 75 to 100 pounds of heavily scented spices to offset the smell of decomposition, (a common practice for the Jews). The men worked quickly to be sure that Jesus was in the tomb by nightfall, in order to keep the Sabbath sacred. And further, the Law required the body of someone who had been executed to be buried that same day. Crucified. Died. Wrapped and laid in a borrowed tomb.
“Dear Lord, revisiting some of the details you suffered is overwhelming. This morning I find myself wondering, 'When you hear the word ‘Calvary’, do you wince?' And, in view of all these things you endured, how then shall I live?”
Child, Jeremiah captured the passionate question that burns in my heart,
“Who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?” Will you?
Be devoted to me—that is my highest desire—love me, spend time with me, set your life on a course of obedience. Amen.”
And remember. Though it's Friday - Sunday's coming. Friday's good cause Sunday's coming.
Christine
1 – fulfillment of David's words in Psalm 22:1
2 Scripture from Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19~
Comments