2021-04-02 – Year B – Good Friday – The Rev. Canon Christopher Klukas
Genesis 22:1-18; Psalm 22:1-11; Hebrews 10:1-25; John 18:1-19:37

“Good” Friday

How can a day filled with so much pain, suffering, and injustice be called “Good.”
When faced with the reality of Jesus’ passion, we might wonder whether all of this was really necessary. Couldn’t there have been another way?
It is even worse when we remember that Jesus didn’t die because of something he did, like the criminals next to him, he died because of something you and I did.

No One is “Good”

We must begin by considering the myth of the “Good Person.”
- “I’m not perfect, but I think I am a pretty good person.”
- No one really wants to think of themselves as a “bad person”
- What is our standard from comparison?
Mark 10:17-18 – The Rich Young Man – “No one is good except God alone.”
- v. 20 “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
God is the standard for comparison – “No one is good except God alone.”
- Compared to the standard of God’s perfection, listen to this picture of what we look like: Romans 3:10-18 – “None is righteous, no, not one…”

Romans 6:20-21 – “For the end of those things is death…”
“No one is going to put me to death for my sins. I’m not a murderer!”
- You might not be put to physical death for your sins, but sin causes separation from God which is spiritual death, something far worse.
- 1 John 5:11–12 – “Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
When Jesus died on the cross, he experienced both physical death and spiritual death for our sake. He took the punishment we deserve so that we could have life.

As much as it appears so from the story of the Passion, the crucifixion is not something that Jesus was forced into. It wasn’t the Pharisees, it wasn’t the crowd, it wasn’t the Romans, it wasn’t Pontius Pilate. He chose the cross for himself.
From the moment of the first sin, Jesus and the Father decided together on the rescue plan. Hebrews 10:5-7 “I have come to do your will, O God.”
Jesus knew the manner of his death long before those who plotted to kill him. Jesus chose death for you.
Even in the midst of his Passion, Jesus could have ended the suffering at any time. He could have called down the armies of heaven to rescue him. But, instead, he remained there for you and for me.
- “It was my sin that held Him there
  Until it was accomplished;
  His dying breath has brought me life –
  I know that it is finished.” (Stuart Townend)
That is why this Friday is called “Good.” Jesus chose the agony and shame of the cross so that you and I might have life.

Hebrews 4:6-7 – “Today if you hear his voice…”
- Accept the gift of life with thanksgiving –
Live your life for God – Hebrews 10:19-25