Friday Read: Good Friday - It Is Finished
Good Friday. The day feels anything but good. Today Jesus of Nazareth - after arrest in the night, illegal trials, brutal beating - was nailed to a cross and executed as a criminal. Today the Son of God died. How is this "good"?
It's good because it accomplished what nothing else could: reconciliation between holy God and sinful humanity. It's good because "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). It's good because at the cross, justice and mercy met, wrath and love embraced, divine holiness and human sin collided and redemption emerged. Good Friday is good not because of what happened to Jesus but because of what his suffering accomplished for us.
After his arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus was taken to Annas (former high priest), then Caiaphas (current high priest), then the Sanhedrin (Jewish ruling council). These trials violated Jewish law - held at night, during Passover, without proper defense, based on false testimony. They sought charges to justify execution, finally settling on blasphemy when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (Matthew 26:63-65).
But Jewish authorities couldn't execute anyone under Roman occupation, so they took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They changed their charge from blasphemy (which Romans didn't care about) to treason (claiming Jesus said he was a king). Pilate examined Jesus and found no basis for charges. When he learned Jesus was from Galilee, he sent him to Herod Antipas (who governed Galilee). Herod questioned Jesus extensively but got no answers, so he mocked him, dressed him in an elegant robe, and sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:8-11).
Pilate tried multiple times to release Jesus. He offered to release one prisoner as Passover custom - Jesus or Barabbas (a known insurrectionist and murderer). The crowd, stirred up by chief priests, chose Barabbas. Pilate's wife sent urgent 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" (Matthew 27:19). Pilate had Jesus flogged, hoping that would satisfy the crowd's bloodlust. When it didn't, he publicly washed his hands, declaring himself innocent of Jesus's blood. Then he handed Jesus over for crucifixion.
Roman flogging was horrifically brutal. Victims were stripped and tied to posts while soldiers whipped them with flagrum - multi-tailed whips embedded with metal or bone. The whips tore flesh, exposed muscle and bone, and sometimes killed victims before crucifixion even began. Isaiah prophesied: "His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being" (Isaiah 52:14). This was the "scourging" Jesus endured.
After flogging, soldiers mocked Jesus as king. They twisted thorns into a crown, pressed it onto his head, put a purple robe on him, placed a staff in his right hand, and knelt before him sarcastically: "Hail, king of the Jews!" (Matthew 27:29). They spit on him, struck him repeatedly, took the staff and hit his thorn-crowned head. Then they stripped off the robe and put his own clothes back on him.
They forced Jesus to carry his cross (the crossbeam, weighing 75-125 pounds) toward Golgotha, "the place of the skull." Weakened from sleepless night, multiple trials, and brutal flogging, Jesus collapsed. Soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross the rest of the way (Mark 15:21).
At Golgotha, they offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh (a mild pain reliever), but he refused it (Mark 15:23). They nailed his hands and feet to the cross - archaeological evidence suggests nails through wrists and feet, supporting body weight while maximizing suffering. Crucifixion killed slowly through asphyxiation: victims had to push up on nailed feet to breathe, causing excruciating pain, until exhaustion made breathing impossible.
They crucified Jesus at 9 AM (Mark 15:25). Pilate ordered a sign placed above his head: "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS" written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek (John 19:19-20). Chief priests objected, wanting it changed to "He claimed to be king of the Jews." Pilate refused: "What I have written, I have written" (John 19:22).
Soldiers divided Jesus's clothes among themselves, casting lots for his seamless tunic, fulfilling Psalm 22:18. People passing by mocked him: "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!" (Matthew 27:40). Religious leaders taunted: "He saved others, but he can't save himself!" (Matthew 27:42). One of the criminals crucified beside him hurled insults, but the other rebuked him and asked Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:42-43).
At noon, darkness covered the land for three hours. At 3 PM, Jesus cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). This wasn't despair but quotation of Psalm 22:1 - a psalm that begins with abandonment but ends with vindication. Jesus was experiencing the reality of bearing humanity's sin, feeling the weight of separation from the Father that sin creates.
After this, Jesus said, "I am thirsty" (John 19:28). Someone lifted a sponge soaked in wine vinegar to his lips. Then Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:30) - in Greek, "tetelestai," a word stamped on bills to indicate "paid in full." The debt of sin was paid. The work of redemption was complete. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Then he died.
Immediately, the temple curtain tore in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51) - the thick veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, symbolizing that Jesus's death opened access to God. The earth shook, rocks split, tombs opened. The Roman centurion overseeing the crucifixion declared: "Surely he was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54).
Jewish law required bodies be removed before Sabbath began at sunset. To speed death, soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals (preventing them from pushing up to breathe). But when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. To verify, a soldier pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out (John 19:34) - medical evidence of death from cardiac rupture. John notes this fulfilled Scripture: "Not one of his bones will be broken" (John 19:36, referencing Exodus 12:46 about the Passover lamb).
Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple and member of the Sanhedrin who opposed Jesus's execution, asked Pilate for Jesus's body. With Nicodemus's help, they wrapped it in linen with spices and placed it in Joseph's new tomb, hewn from rock, in a nearby garden (John 19:38-42). They rolled a large stone across the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph watched where he was laid (Mark 15:47).
Good Friday ended with Jesus dead and buried, disciples scattered and terrified, hopes crushed, dreams destroyed. Everything appeared finished - not in the triumphant sense Jesus meant but in catastrophic failure. The promised Messiah was executed. The hoped-for kingdom collapsed. The expected victory became humiliating defeat. Friday felt anything but good.
Yet this was exactly God's plan. "This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked people, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (Acts 2:23). Human evil accomplished divine purposes. Apparent defeat secured ultimate victory. What looked like catastrophic failure was actually cosmic triumph. The cross wasn't Plan B when Plan A failed - it was always the plan, from before creation.
Good Friday forces a question you must answer personally: what will you do with Jesus? The crowd chose Barabbas and crucified Jesus. Pilate washed his hands, claiming neutrality while authorizing murder. Religious leaders protected their power by eliminating the threat. Disciples fled to protect themselves. Roman soldiers followed orders. One thief mocked; another believed. One criminal was saved in his final moments; the other died in his sin.
What will you do with Jesus? Ignore him? Reject him? Mock him? Use him when convenient? Or will you believe that his death paid the debt your sin created, that his sacrifice purchased your redemption, that his blood covered your guilt? Good Friday demands a response. Neutrality isn't an option - washing your hands like Pilate still leaves blood on them. You're either saved by his death or condemned by your rejection of it.
