The Cross of Jesus Christ: The Meaning of Good Friday

Introduction

This text follows the Good Friday sermon on Mark 15:15-39, the passage that tells the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Good Friday is not first a sad day: it is the day we remember that the Son of God went all the way for us. He was handed over, flogged, mocked, nailed to a cross. And he did it willingly.

The preacher warns us from the start: do not stop at "I already know this." The cross, when it is truly seen, never leaves you at peace. It sends you back to your own sin, to your own need for salvation, and to a love that surpasses everything you can imagine.

Outline of the article

1. The Roman torture Jesus endured for you
2. Simon of Cyrene and the road to Golgotha
3. Six hours on the cross: the mockery and the love that does not give in
4. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
5. "It is finished" and the torn veil

1. The Roman torture Jesus endured for you

Mark 15:15 says that Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas and handed Jesus over, "having scourged him, to be crucified." The word passes quickly through our lips. But Roman flogging bears no resemblance to what we imagine.

The Roman whip was made of leather straps studded with fragments of bone, stone, or bits of metal. With every strike, the skin tore open, flesh came away, bone became visible. A single blow could be atrocious. Among the Jews, the law capped the number of blows at 39, so as not to kill the man. Among the Romans, there was no limit: they struck until the condemned man was unrecognizable, taking care only that he stay standing long enough to reach the cross.

And we must remember that Jesus, before the flogging, had already spent the night at the high priest's house. He had been struck, spat on, had a bag put over his head, and been beaten. He had not slept. He had not eaten. By the time Pilate hands him over to the whip, his body is already broken.

Next, the soldiers take him into the praetorium and gather the whole cohort, several hundred men. They put a purple robe on him (the color of kings, precious in that day), they press a crown of thorns onto his head (thorns that were hard, 4 to 6 inches long), they put a reed in his hand like a scepter. Then they mock him: "Hail, King of the Jews!" They strike him on the head with the reed. Hundreds of soldiers spit on him. They kneel down sneering, pretending to worship him. After that, they tear the robe off him (off skin that is raw), and dress him again in his own clothes. Nothing is spared you in the text: human cruelty is there, in full.

2. Simon of Cyrene and the road to Golgotha

In verse 21, Mark notes something precise: "They compelled a passerby, who was coming in from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross." Simon is not loaded with the entire cross, but with the patibulum, the crossbeam, which weighed around 90 pounds. Two heavy jugs of water. That is heavy for a man in top physical shape.

Jesus himself had been a carpenter in Nazareth before his ministry. He had then walked for three and a half years across Israel, Phoenicia, the region of Tyre and Sidon. His body was strong. But after a night of beatings, an unlimited flogging, a crown of thorns, and the mockery of hundreds of soldiers, he can no longer walk. That is why Simon is pressed into service.

Arriving at Golgotha, they offer him wine mixed with myrrh. It is an anesthetic: it dulls the pain. Jesus refuses it. This detail is not trivial. If he drinks, he dulls his senses. But he has not come to endure a punishment only halfway: he has come to carry, at one hundred percent, the penalty that was due to fall on us. He wants no discount, no reduction. He drinks the cup to the very bottom.

3. Six hours on the cross: the mockery and the love that does not give in

"And they crucified him. It was the third hour when they crucified him." (Mark 15:24-25) Nine in the morning. They nail his wrists to the beam (not the palms, which would not hold the weight of the body), then his feet, with a long nail. On the cross, death most often comes by asphyxiation: the body sags forward, the man can no longer exhale, he must push up on his nailed feet to catch his breath. Every breath becomes a torment. And he has to do it again, over and over.

Jesus stays on the cross from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Six hours. Pilate himself will be surprised to hear that he is dead "already." In other words, crucifixion could last far longer than that.

Meanwhile, the soldiers cast lots for his clothes (fulfilling Psalm 22:18, prophesied a thousand years earlier by David). This means Jesus is naked on the cross. Physical pain is joined by public shame.

The passersby shake their heads: "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, come down from the cross!" The chief priests and the scribes sneer: "He saved others, he cannot save himself." The two criminals crucified beside him mock him too, at first.

The heaviest point is this: Jesus could come down. The Son of God can end the scene at any moment. But if he comes down, he saves no one. He does not save you. He does not save me. He does not save the criminal beside him, the one who, seeing him hold on for six hours in this suffering, will come to believe, and to whom Jesus will say, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Hebrews 12:2 says he endured the cross "for the joy that was set before him." The joy of seeing us saved. It was not the suffering that gave him joy, it was our salvation.

4. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

"And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Mark 15:33-34)

From noon to 3 p.m., darkness covers the land. This night in the middle of the day is the visible sign of God's wrath falling. Not the Father's anger against his Son out of some whim, but the judgment owed to our sin, which at that moment rests on Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says it plainly: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

That is why Jesus does not say "Father" at this moment. When he had taught his disciples to pray, he had told them, "Say: Our Father." But here, he cries out, "My God, my God." The relationship of Son to Father is, as it were, cut off. Not because God had stopped loving his Son, but because Jesus is bearing our sin, and sin separates from God. He goes through this abandonment so that you would never have to experience it.

Some around him misunderstand: "Let's see whether Elijah will come to take him down." They have enough biblical knowledge to link Christ and Elijah, but not enough to recognize who is standing before them. Half knowledge does not make you see Jesus. What makes you see Jesus is a heart that recognizes its need for salvation, like the criminal at his side.

5. "It is finished" and the torn veil

"And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last." (Mark 15:37) John 19:30 reports this cry for us: "It is finished." What is finished? The work of salvation. Sin is borne, the penalty is drunk, the cup of wrath is emptied to the very last drop. Then, according to Luke 23:46, he adds, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." He says "Father" again. The relationship is restored. The sacrifice is received.

At that exact moment, two things happen. "And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'" (Mark 15:38-39)

The veil of the temple separated the holy place from the most holy place, the spot where only the high priest could enter, once a year. It was a reminder that man cannot approach God just like that. This veil tears from top to bottom, in the direction that shows God himself is the one tearing it. Access is opened. Through Jesus, you can now draw near to the throne of grace with confidence.

And the Roman centurion, who had seen so many men die on a cross, recognizes that this one was not like the others. No one had died this way. He believes. Just like the crucified criminal. Two men that nothing had prepared to see Jesus, and who see him.

Key takeaways

• Good Friday is not a day of pious sadness: it is the day the Son of God paid, in full, what we could never pay.
• Jesus refused the anesthetic: he wanted to carry the full penalty, with no discount, for you.
• He could have come down from the cross. Had he done so, no one would have been saved.
• The cry "My God, my God" is the price of the abandonment we will never know if we are in Christ.
• The veil torn from top to bottom is God's own signature: he is the one who opened the door.

Personal application

• Do I look at the cross as a moved spectator, or do I see myself there, with my own sin?
• When I think about Good Friday, do I stop at Jesus' pain, or do I remember why he carried it?
• Like Pilate, do I sometimes sacrifice the truth to protect my position?
• Like the mockers, do I have enough biblical knowledge to argue, but not enough to believe?
• Like the criminal or the centurion, am I ready to acknowledge today, "This man really is the Son of God, and I need his salvation"?

Verses cited

• Mark 15:15-39 · the account of the crucifixion
• Psalm 22:18 · the clothes divided
• Matthew 27 · parallel account
• Luke 23:46 · "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit"
• John 19:30 · "It is finished"
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 · made to be sin for us
• Galatians 3:13 · Christ redeemed us from the curse
• Hebrews 12:2 · the joy set before him
• John 3:14-16 · the serpent lifted up and the love of God

FAQ

Why do we call this day "Good Friday" when we commemorate an execution on it?

Because this Friday is the day Jesus made our salvation possible. It is not the death of a righteous man being celebrated for its own sake, it is the sacrifice that opens the forgiveness of sins and access to God. "Good Friday" keeps that idea of a "good" Friday: good for us, because of what Jesus accomplished on it.

Why did Jesus refuse the wine mixed with myrrh?

It was an anesthetic offered to condemned men. By refusing it, Jesus chooses to carry the full weight of the penalty, without dulling his awareness of it. He took no shortcut. He drank the cup that was ours to the very end.

What does the torn veil of the temple mean?

The veil separated the most holy place, where God manifested his presence, from the rest of the temple. Only the high priest entered it, once a year, with blood. The veil torn from top to bottom means that God himself opened access: through the death of Jesus, every believer can now draw near to God, with no human go-between, with confidence.