February 9, 2000

FAMILY BIBLE SERIES:
Good Friday: An ironic
label for a day of despair
___ Matthew 27:32-61
___By Stacy Conner
___First Baptist Church, Muleshoe
___We refer to the Friday before Easter as "Good Friday." It is an ironic label, is it not?
___In reality, there seems to be little good that happened on that day.
___ Jesus, the Son of God, was forced like a common criminal who had earned his judgment to carry his cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Due to the abusive treatment and beatings of the previous night, he was physically unable to carry the instrument of death. Jesus was offered bitter wine to drink. Roman soldiers drove nails through his body and into the wooden cross. Upon being suspended in the air, his chest was pulled tight, and the slow process of dying by suffocation began.
___The Son of God hung between two criminals, whose crimes were who knows what, against who knows who. A mob of mockers, power elite and curiosity seekers gathered around, taunting Jesus in his moment of humiliation. "He saved others" they said, "but he cannot save himself! He is 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'" (Matthew 27:42-43).
___For three hours, an eerie darkness blanketed the land. Just before his death, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And he died.
___Yes, we have misnamed the day. There was very little good that took place on "Good Friday."
___The irony of that day probably would have been more deeply felt by those who attended to Jesus' body following his death. Joseph, a man of strong courage, stood before Jesus' executioners and requested the body for burial. With a new linen cloth, Jesus' followers quickly wrapped the body and placed it into a new tomb cut from the rock. As the Sabbath hour approached, the stone door was rolled across the entrance and the tomb was sealed.
___In a period of just two days, Jesus' followers descended from the heights of expectation to the depths of desperation. The disciples scattered like flushed quail when Jesus was arrested. The most vocal spokesman for the "Jesus the Christ" campaign abandoned the cause and denied Christ within a few hours of the arrest. Only the disciple John stood there with Jesus' mother at the cross (John 19:26-27). Hope was gone.
___It must have been an awkward moment. These followers to the end had just placed Jesus in the tomb; how do they walk away? In the stunned reality, how do you walk away from the one who had promised you life? Not realizing what was to come Sunday, someone probably shuffled his or her feet, and they just walked away. They walked away, and in leaving the tomb they left their hope. On "Good Friday," hope was buried.

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