Good Friday
“The Ripple Effect of the Crucifixion”
Friday, April 10, 2020
Good Friday 2020
Submitted to the church website due to the Coronavirus outbreak
Scripture: Luke 23:26-49
Introduction:
One of my favorite television documentary series is Engineering Disasters, which airs on the History Channel (the kids bought some DVD’s for me). One thing that I have noticed about most disasters is that they usually begin with one precipitating event, which seems to take on a life of its own. Then that event is added to several other subsequent events which result in a full-blown trajedy. That precipitating event is like a rock thrown in a smooth pond, spreading farther and farther.
Natural Events Have a Way of Changing the World.
Small events can have a ripple effect, often becoming large events. Take, for example, the South Fork Dam located on Lake Conemaugh, located near South Fork, Pennsylvania. The South Fork Dam, 72 feet (22 m) high and 931 feet (284 m) long, was originally built between 1838-1853 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of the canal system to be used as a reservoir for the state's Main Line of Public Works canal basin in that region of Pennsylvania. It was abandoned by the commonwealth, sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and sold again to private investors.
The dam and surrounding land was eventually bought by a private club called the South Fork Fishing & Hunting club. The Club counted many of Pittsburgh’s leading industrialists and financiers among its 61 members, including Andrew Carnegie (Carnegie Steel), Henry Clay Frick (played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel and financed the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad), Andrew Mellon (banker who founded Gulf Oil and Alcoa Aluminum), and Philander Knox (served as U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania, and U.S. Secretary of State).
Several modifications had been made to the dam over the years. In 1875, Pennsylvania Railroad employee and US Congressman John Reilly, bought the South Fork Dam for $2,500.00. He removed the five iron sluice pipes at the base of the dam and sold them for scrap. This had two deleterious effects on the dam: it aggravated a sag at the top of the dam, making it more susceptible to overtopping. This course of action also limited the options for safe removal of excess water.
In 1879, Mr. Reilly sold the dam to Benjamin Ruff, who bought it in the name of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Pittsburgh. The Club inadequately patched the holes from the 1862 break; never replaced the sluice pipes; lowered the top of the dam to make it wider for carriages; and put fish screens over the spillway. These screens clogged on May 31, 1889, meaning that as the rains continued to fall, the only way for water to get out was to overtop the dam.
All these events caused a ripple effect which ended with the dam completely failing on May 31, 1889. The result of the ripples was catastrophic. The dam contained 20 million tons of water before it gave way, about the same amount of water as goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes. The water roared downstream until it reached the City of Johnstown, Pennsylvania – about 14 miles from the dam. The great wave measured 35-40 feet high as it hit Johnstown at 40 miles per hour and it took about 40 minutes for the lake to completely empty. 2,209 people died during the flood. Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati (about 350 miles away), and as late as 1911 (22 years later). 1,600 homes were destroyed, causing about $17 million in property damage. Four square miles of downtown Johnstown were completely destroyed and the pile of debris at the stone bridge, which snagged some of the accumulated debris covered 30 acres.
Who would have thought that a few “minor” events would have resulted in such a horrible result?
Human Events Also Have an Incredible Ripple Effect.
Sometimes, people watch what celebrities are doing. One of the latest crazes is about June Shannon aka, “Mama June” who was recently dumped by her husband Mike Thompson aka “Sugar Bear”. It’s like a slow-motion train wreck. You know it’s no going to turn out well, but you just have to watch. For the past several months, the country has been transfixed as Mama June started losing weight (starting weight 460 pounds) so she could show up at the wedding when Sugar Bear marries his new wife. The episodes that chronicled her weight loss was titled: “Mama June: From Not to Hot”.
People all over the world follow the latest events concerning the royal family. Everyone follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II, born on April 28, 1926, and ruler of England since 1952 or Prince William, his wife Kate, and their young children.
When you were born, it changed the lives for many people (your parents, siblings, extended family, friends, spouse, etc.). Your presence on this planet is more significant that you know.
World Events Have an Incredible Ripple Effect
For better or worse, our country, and the world, has changed significantly when Donald Trump took the oath of office and became our 45th president. The outcome of events in Syria have yet to become known. Domestic issues in our own nation are up in the air.
The Reality of the Crucifixion
Another world event that has had an enormous ripple effect like no other is the events that involve the day we call “Good Friday”.
The events themselves belie the Spiritual and historical significance of this amazing day in history.
In the historical events that surround Good Friday we find an event of cosmic importance. By that I mean the ripples or domino effect, from this event go out in such profound waves that it literally changes everything.
I can’t think of a better place to go than the commentary provided by Dr. Peter Marshall in his Good Friday sermon, Were You There?
Let me present an excerpt from that sermon:
It was not easy to make one’s way through the crowd. But it was especially difficult for the procession that started out from the Governor’s Palace. At its head rode a Roman Centurion, disdainful and aloof, scorn for the child or cripple who might be in his way. Before him went two Legionnaires clearing the crowd aside as best they could with curses and careless blows. Behind followed two short columns between which staggered three condemned men, each carrying a heavy wooden cross on which he was to be executed. Try as the soldiers might to keep step, they moved at a snail’s pace. It was evident that they did not relish this routine task which came to them every now and then in this troublesome province. The sunlight glanced on their spears and helmets. There was a rhythmic clanking of steel as their shields touched their belt buckles and the scabbards of their swords. Left, right, left, right. "Get a move on, we don’t have all day!"
The crosses were heavy, however, and the first of the victims was at the point of collapse. He had been under severe strain for several days. He had been scourged - lashed with a leather whip in the thongs of which had been inserted rough pieces of lead. Slowly they all moved forward from the courtyard of Pilate’s palace and made for one of the gates leading out of the city.
The sun was hot. Sweat poured down the face of Jesus, and he swayed now and then underneath the weight of the cross. A group of women went with the procession, their faces half hidden by their veils, but their grief could still be seen.
As Simon neared the city he began to hear shouting. It grew louder and louder and there seemed to be sort of beat to it, a rhythm, a kind of chant that he thought sounded like "crucify, crucify, crucify!" They met right at the city gate, Simon of Cyrene and the crowd.
He found that the procession was headed by some Roman soldiers. It was obviously official, but Simon had little time to gather impressions. As for asking questions, that was impossible - he could not make himself heard in all the noise.
There was a sinister, throbbing malice in the air that made this pilgrim shudder. He was aware of two moving walls of Roman steel between which there staggered a man carrying a cross. And then he saw there were three men, but it was one, one in particular, that attracted his attention.
As Simon continued to look at that face and Jesus was raising His weary head, their eyes met. The look that passed between them, Simon never forgot as long as he lived. [Because] no one can look at Jesus and remain the same.
Suddenly, the Man with the cross stumbled and the soldiers, moved more by impatience than by pity, seeing that the Nazarene was almost too exhausted to go any farther, laid hands on Simon and forced him to take the cross. Simon’s heart almost stopped beating - he was terrified. Just a few minutes before, he was a lonely pilgrim quietly approaching the Holy City. Now he is a beast of burden, his shoulders stooped under the weight of a cross on which this Man, this Man with the arresting eyes, was soon to die.
Only a short distance more. They called the place Golgotha. Visitors to Jerusalem would be asked if they agreed that, seen in silhouette, it suggested a human skull. It was where two great highways converged upon the city, and down in the valley below, a place of stench, a place of horror, a place of ugliness where garbage always burned and the evil smelling smoke curled up and was wafted over the brow of the strangely-shaped hill. This was the place of public execution - Calvary - and here the procession stopped.
Now the shouting stopped as well. Thud, thud, thud. There was a hush. Even the hardest of them were silent. It is not pleasant to watch nails being driven through human flesh. Mary, His mother, stopped her ears and turned away her head. They could hear the echo across the Kidron valley, the hammer blows. John stood beside Mary and supported her. The other women were weeping. But as soon as the Nazarene had mounted his last pulpit, as soon as the cross had fallen with a thump into the pit they had dug for it, the shouting broke out again.
One of the thieves crucified with Him, drugged and half drunk, cried out to Jesus, "Can you not see how we suffer? If you are the Son of God save yourself and us." He raised his shoulders and twisted until he leaned from the crosspiece and then he begged and taunted Christ. What he sought was salvation from the suffering, not salvation from sin. Then a spasm of pain gripped him - his weight once again fell upon the nails that held his hands and he began to curse and swear until his companion turned his head and rebuked him. "What has this man done that you should treat him [like this]? We deserve our fate, but this man has done nothing wrong." And then he said to Jesus "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." And Jesus, His face drawn with agony but His voice still kind, answered, "This very day, when the pain is over, we shall be together again. Truly I say to you, you will be with Me in paradise."
The sun beat down with relentless heat. Time oozed out like the blood that dripped from the cross. Jesus opened His eyes and saw His mother standing there and John beside her. Jesus called for John to come closer and said, "Take care of her." And John, choked with tears, put his arm around the shoulders of Mary. Jesus said to His mother, "He will be your son." His lips were parched and He spoke with difficulty. He moved his head against the hard wood of the cross as a sick man moves his head on a hot pillow.
A thunderstorm was blowing up from the mountains. It was becoming strangely dark. People looked at the ominous sky and became frightened. Women took little children by the hand and hurried back to the city before the storm would break. It was an uncanny darkness - it had never been as dark at midday before.
The tears of the women were drying now. The Centurion was silent - every so often he would gaze up at Jesus with a strange look in his eyes. The soldiers were silent too, their gambling was over. Suddenly Jesus opened His eyes and gave a loud cry. The gladness in his voice startled all who heard it for it sounded like a shout of victory. "It is finished. Father into your hands I commend My spirit." And with that cry, He died.
That is a summary of what happened on the hill called Golgotha – and even at this level we observe profound life changing ripples going out from the crucifixion of Jesus that were to have profound effect on both those who followed him and – those who didn’t.
The Ripple Effect of the Crucifixion
I want to suggest to you that those ripples – beginning in Jerusalem on Good Friday – continue to have an incredible impact on the world around us.
The crucifixion of Jesus changes us in many ways:
The first change is physical
Some physical things happened during the crucifixion of Jesus that had a profound effect on the world around him. These events provide a solid testimony about the importance of his death.
What are some of these physical things?
There were three hours of darkness. Many years ago, it was argued that the darkness was due to a solar eclipse (eclipse of the sun). But that is physically impossible, because Passover was always held at full moon, when there could be no eclipse of the sun.
The darkness has been described as nature's sympathy with the suffering of the Lord, but that is a pagan conception of nature, a conception of nature as having some consciousness apart from God and out of harmony with His work.
Others say that the darkness was brought about by an act of God as an expression of His sympathy with His Son. I immediately admit that that is an appealing idea and has some element of truth in it, in that we may discover the overruling of His government; but to declare that that darkness was caused by God because of His sympathy with His Son is to deny the cry of Jesus which immediately followed the darkness and referred to it. For Jesus, the darkness was a period when He experienced whatever He may have meant by the words, "Why have you forsaken Me?"
The tearing of the curtain is another incredible physical phenomenon that causes ripples throughout the Jewish community.
At the precise moment Jesus cried out with a loud voice and committed his spirit to God, several unusual things happened. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split. Several tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of their tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many people.
If the darkness wasn’t testimony enough - God now underlined the earth-shattering importance of this event.
One of the more important things that happened was the tearing of the veil in the Temple. In the inner court of the temple in Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant. That was where the high priest would go once a year to offer atonement for the sins of the people. A veil, a very thick, woven curtain, separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple.
When Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, that heavy curtain was torn from top to bottom. It was not ripped from bottom to top, as though a man were ripping it. Instead, it was ripped from top to bottom, because God was ripping it.
God was saying, “You no longer are on the outside. You can come in. My Son has made a way for you.”
The apostle Paul explained how we can now draw near to God:
Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, (21) and having a High Priest over the house of God, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The veil was torn. Jesus is now our Intercessor. We don’t have to go through a person to reach God anymore. We don’t have to go through rituals anymore. Instead, Jesus made a new and living way for us to reach God.
What do these physical things proclaim? They proclaim that God can change the dynamics of the tried and trusted rules of life that most people take for granted.
Those ripples move throughout history and across that planet to this day. God broke the physical laws of His creation on Good Friday to underscore its importance. You see, Good Friday sends physical ripples throughout history that still ripple outward for us today.
The second change is symbolic
The procession of Jesus and the two thieves ended at the “Place of the Skull”. Seems appropriate for what was going to happen there. Did you know that some crosses bear the sign of the skull and cross bones? The symbol of the skull and cross bones is associated with Adam’s skull because through Adam and Eve death came into this world.
When I was younger, we tended to see the symbol of the skull and cross bones on toxic and dangerous chemicals or places. People work with all kinds of hazardous, dangerous materials in manufacturing facilities. Each substance has an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) close by for everyone to see. We were taught that this (skull and crossbones) was a symbol of danger and that we needed to treat the contents with care or to stay away from sites marked with the symbol.
We also tended to think of this symbol as being associated with pirate ships – dangerous ships crewed by dangerous men.
Things sure have changed regarding this symbol of the skull and cross bones. It has become ornamental. You see it on hats, tee shirts, skateboards, motorbikes, leather jackets, and jewelry. I have even seen a purse decorated with little symbols of the skull and cross bones. Maybe there is something dangerous in that purse, who can tell?
So why has this symbol become so popular and splashed all over the place? Is it a way to say that the person sporting it is dangerous? Or does it reflect the idea that the person is “playing with death” and with harmful things because it makes them feel tough or invincible? Is it a fascination with dark, spooky things? Is it just a matter of following the latest fad?
Sometimes those who sport the symbol of the skull and cross bones want to communicate a sense of power, toughness and defiance. So, they defy those who would challenge them and in some sense, they may be sending a threatening message of injury and death. They use the latent threat of death and the fear it creates to exercise freedom without restrictions or accountability. They use the threat of death as a means to their own ends.
In a way those who use this symbol in this way are a more vigorous expression of us all. We too want to do what we want without being curbed by others or even by God. There is a rebel at work in most of us one way or another; we want our way. Yet this approach to life, to relationships of all kinds, leads to alienation, injury and death. We all live under the threat of death and the toxicity of our sin.
How do we get out from under the power of the skull and cross bones caused by the sin in our lives?
At the place of the skull Jesus went straight into the heart of the matter by facing injury and death, taking them on, literally in his own body. Christ took them on even when they were doing their worst in causing harm and death to leave his body a bloodied corpse on the cross. He took on the symbol of the skull and cross bones that hangs over our lives; even as we are under the curse and the fear created by Adam and Eve’s choice that leads to death. So, we too carry the image of the skull of Adam. Even as some people tattoo the image of the skull on their skin, the power of sin is marked on every human heart. It is there and active even though we may not want it to be there.
Though Jesus was sinless He took that mark upon himself for us. He took on the death to which our sin leads as well as the harm and brokenness, the guilt and shame. He took it all on for you and me.
At the place of the skull Jesus engaged the sin and death that each of us deserves. The threat and fear of death does not stop him. He came under the sign of the skull and cross bones and his life in this world is ended. Death had done its full damage to him; he has consumed the full measure of that toxic cup of our sin and his physical body died as a result.
So, there is a massive ripple of Grace flowing out through history and the world.
Conclusion
But do you know the really incredible thing? The next day, despite everything that they had seen and heard – as far as we know – the normal person in Jerusalem just went about their normal business.
The people most responsible for Jesus’ death carried their denial to a ridiculous level by sealing the tomb and putting a guard outside – as if you can stop God with a guard.
It is incredible that – even with these incredible signs – people in Jerusalem did not perceive what was happening in their midst.
The fact that the citizens of Jerusalem and all the people who were gathered for the Passover could ignore all of this and carry on business as usual might come as nothing other than a shock to us. How could they miss the importance of what had just happened?
And yet today, on Good Friday as God again speaks into the world of his message of salvation, people still act as if there was no Savior and no eternity.
The message of the cross, while terrible, contains a message of hope for us who benefit from it. Through the power of Christ on the cross there is forgiveness and a new chance at life because of what Jesus accomplished there for us. While the cross is a symbol of suffering and torture and death, it is also a symbol of the great compassion of our God. There Jesus endured the worst that our sin can do in order to set us free from its poison in our lives and give us release, freedom and a new life in Him.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Good Friday 2020
Submitted to the church website due to the Coronavirus outbreak
Scripture: Luke 23:26-49
Introduction:
One of my favorite television documentary series is Engineering Disasters, which airs on the History Channel (the kids bought some DVD’s for me). One thing that I have noticed about most disasters is that they usually begin with one precipitating event, which seems to take on a life of its own. Then that event is added to several other subsequent events which result in a full-blown trajedy. That precipitating event is like a rock thrown in a smooth pond, spreading farther and farther.
Natural Events Have a Way of Changing the World.
Small events can have a ripple effect, often becoming large events. Take, for example, the South Fork Dam located on Lake Conemaugh, located near South Fork, Pennsylvania. The South Fork Dam, 72 feet (22 m) high and 931 feet (284 m) long, was originally built between 1838-1853 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of the canal system to be used as a reservoir for the state's Main Line of Public Works canal basin in that region of Pennsylvania. It was abandoned by the commonwealth, sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and sold again to private investors.
The dam and surrounding land was eventually bought by a private club called the South Fork Fishing & Hunting club. The Club counted many of Pittsburgh’s leading industrialists and financiers among its 61 members, including Andrew Carnegie (Carnegie Steel), Henry Clay Frick (played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel and financed the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad), Andrew Mellon (banker who founded Gulf Oil and Alcoa Aluminum), and Philander Knox (served as U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania, and U.S. Secretary of State).
Several modifications had been made to the dam over the years. In 1875, Pennsylvania Railroad employee and US Congressman John Reilly, bought the South Fork Dam for $2,500.00. He removed the five iron sluice pipes at the base of the dam and sold them for scrap. This had two deleterious effects on the dam: it aggravated a sag at the top of the dam, making it more susceptible to overtopping. This course of action also limited the options for safe removal of excess water.
In 1879, Mr. Reilly sold the dam to Benjamin Ruff, who bought it in the name of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Pittsburgh. The Club inadequately patched the holes from the 1862 break; never replaced the sluice pipes; lowered the top of the dam to make it wider for carriages; and put fish screens over the spillway. These screens clogged on May 31, 1889, meaning that as the rains continued to fall, the only way for water to get out was to overtop the dam.
All these events caused a ripple effect which ended with the dam completely failing on May 31, 1889. The result of the ripples was catastrophic. The dam contained 20 million tons of water before it gave way, about the same amount of water as goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes. The water roared downstream until it reached the City of Johnstown, Pennsylvania – about 14 miles from the dam. The great wave measured 35-40 feet high as it hit Johnstown at 40 miles per hour and it took about 40 minutes for the lake to completely empty. 2,209 people died during the flood. Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnati (about 350 miles away), and as late as 1911 (22 years later). 1,600 homes were destroyed, causing about $17 million in property damage. Four square miles of downtown Johnstown were completely destroyed and the pile of debris at the stone bridge, which snagged some of the accumulated debris covered 30 acres.
Who would have thought that a few “minor” events would have resulted in such a horrible result?
Human Events Also Have an Incredible Ripple Effect.
Sometimes, people watch what celebrities are doing. One of the latest crazes is about June Shannon aka, “Mama June” who was recently dumped by her husband Mike Thompson aka “Sugar Bear”. It’s like a slow-motion train wreck. You know it’s no going to turn out well, but you just have to watch. For the past several months, the country has been transfixed as Mama June started losing weight (starting weight 460 pounds) so she could show up at the wedding when Sugar Bear marries his new wife. The episodes that chronicled her weight loss was titled: “Mama June: From Not to Hot”.
People all over the world follow the latest events concerning the royal family. Everyone follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II, born on April 28, 1926, and ruler of England since 1952 or Prince William, his wife Kate, and their young children.
When you were born, it changed the lives for many people (your parents, siblings, extended family, friends, spouse, etc.). Your presence on this planet is more significant that you know.
World Events Have an Incredible Ripple Effect
For better or worse, our country, and the world, has changed significantly when Donald Trump took the oath of office and became our 45th president. The outcome of events in Syria have yet to become known. Domestic issues in our own nation are up in the air.
The Reality of the Crucifixion
Another world event that has had an enormous ripple effect like no other is the events that involve the day we call “Good Friday”.
The events themselves belie the Spiritual and historical significance of this amazing day in history.
In the historical events that surround Good Friday we find an event of cosmic importance. By that I mean the ripples or domino effect, from this event go out in such profound waves that it literally changes everything.
I can’t think of a better place to go than the commentary provided by Dr. Peter Marshall in his Good Friday sermon, Were You There?
Let me present an excerpt from that sermon:
It was not easy to make one’s way through the crowd. But it was especially difficult for the procession that started out from the Governor’s Palace. At its head rode a Roman Centurion, disdainful and aloof, scorn for the child or cripple who might be in his way. Before him went two Legionnaires clearing the crowd aside as best they could with curses and careless blows. Behind followed two short columns between which staggered three condemned men, each carrying a heavy wooden cross on which he was to be executed. Try as the soldiers might to keep step, they moved at a snail’s pace. It was evident that they did not relish this routine task which came to them every now and then in this troublesome province. The sunlight glanced on their spears and helmets. There was a rhythmic clanking of steel as their shields touched their belt buckles and the scabbards of their swords. Left, right, left, right. "Get a move on, we don’t have all day!"
The crosses were heavy, however, and the first of the victims was at the point of collapse. He had been under severe strain for several days. He had been scourged - lashed with a leather whip in the thongs of which had been inserted rough pieces of lead. Slowly they all moved forward from the courtyard of Pilate’s palace and made for one of the gates leading out of the city.
The sun was hot. Sweat poured down the face of Jesus, and he swayed now and then underneath the weight of the cross. A group of women went with the procession, their faces half hidden by their veils, but their grief could still be seen.
As Simon neared the city he began to hear shouting. It grew louder and louder and there seemed to be sort of beat to it, a rhythm, a kind of chant that he thought sounded like "crucify, crucify, crucify!" They met right at the city gate, Simon of Cyrene and the crowd.
He found that the procession was headed by some Roman soldiers. It was obviously official, but Simon had little time to gather impressions. As for asking questions, that was impossible - he could not make himself heard in all the noise.
There was a sinister, throbbing malice in the air that made this pilgrim shudder. He was aware of two moving walls of Roman steel between which there staggered a man carrying a cross. And then he saw there were three men, but it was one, one in particular, that attracted his attention.
As Simon continued to look at that face and Jesus was raising His weary head, their eyes met. The look that passed between them, Simon never forgot as long as he lived. [Because] no one can look at Jesus and remain the same.
Suddenly, the Man with the cross stumbled and the soldiers, moved more by impatience than by pity, seeing that the Nazarene was almost too exhausted to go any farther, laid hands on Simon and forced him to take the cross. Simon’s heart almost stopped beating - he was terrified. Just a few minutes before, he was a lonely pilgrim quietly approaching the Holy City. Now he is a beast of burden, his shoulders stooped under the weight of a cross on which this Man, this Man with the arresting eyes, was soon to die.
Only a short distance more. They called the place Golgotha. Visitors to Jerusalem would be asked if they agreed that, seen in silhouette, it suggested a human skull. It was where two great highways converged upon the city, and down in the valley below, a place of stench, a place of horror, a place of ugliness where garbage always burned and the evil smelling smoke curled up and was wafted over the brow of the strangely-shaped hill. This was the place of public execution - Calvary - and here the procession stopped.
Now the shouting stopped as well. Thud, thud, thud. There was a hush. Even the hardest of them were silent. It is not pleasant to watch nails being driven through human flesh. Mary, His mother, stopped her ears and turned away her head. They could hear the echo across the Kidron valley, the hammer blows. John stood beside Mary and supported her. The other women were weeping. But as soon as the Nazarene had mounted his last pulpit, as soon as the cross had fallen with a thump into the pit they had dug for it, the shouting broke out again.
One of the thieves crucified with Him, drugged and half drunk, cried out to Jesus, "Can you not see how we suffer? If you are the Son of God save yourself and us." He raised his shoulders and twisted until he leaned from the crosspiece and then he begged and taunted Christ. What he sought was salvation from the suffering, not salvation from sin. Then a spasm of pain gripped him - his weight once again fell upon the nails that held his hands and he began to curse and swear until his companion turned his head and rebuked him. "What has this man done that you should treat him [like this]? We deserve our fate, but this man has done nothing wrong." And then he said to Jesus "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." And Jesus, His face drawn with agony but His voice still kind, answered, "This very day, when the pain is over, we shall be together again. Truly I say to you, you will be with Me in paradise."
The sun beat down with relentless heat. Time oozed out like the blood that dripped from the cross. Jesus opened His eyes and saw His mother standing there and John beside her. Jesus called for John to come closer and said, "Take care of her." And John, choked with tears, put his arm around the shoulders of Mary. Jesus said to His mother, "He will be your son." His lips were parched and He spoke with difficulty. He moved his head against the hard wood of the cross as a sick man moves his head on a hot pillow.
A thunderstorm was blowing up from the mountains. It was becoming strangely dark. People looked at the ominous sky and became frightened. Women took little children by the hand and hurried back to the city before the storm would break. It was an uncanny darkness - it had never been as dark at midday before.
The tears of the women were drying now. The Centurion was silent - every so often he would gaze up at Jesus with a strange look in his eyes. The soldiers were silent too, their gambling was over. Suddenly Jesus opened His eyes and gave a loud cry. The gladness in his voice startled all who heard it for it sounded like a shout of victory. "It is finished. Father into your hands I commend My spirit." And with that cry, He died.
That is a summary of what happened on the hill called Golgotha – and even at this level we observe profound life changing ripples going out from the crucifixion of Jesus that were to have profound effect on both those who followed him and – those who didn’t.
The Ripple Effect of the Crucifixion
I want to suggest to you that those ripples – beginning in Jerusalem on Good Friday – continue to have an incredible impact on the world around us.
The crucifixion of Jesus changes us in many ways:
The first change is physical
Some physical things happened during the crucifixion of Jesus that had a profound effect on the world around him. These events provide a solid testimony about the importance of his death.
What are some of these physical things?
There were three hours of darkness. Many years ago, it was argued that the darkness was due to a solar eclipse (eclipse of the sun). But that is physically impossible, because Passover was always held at full moon, when there could be no eclipse of the sun.
The darkness has been described as nature's sympathy with the suffering of the Lord, but that is a pagan conception of nature, a conception of nature as having some consciousness apart from God and out of harmony with His work.
Others say that the darkness was brought about by an act of God as an expression of His sympathy with His Son. I immediately admit that that is an appealing idea and has some element of truth in it, in that we may discover the overruling of His government; but to declare that that darkness was caused by God because of His sympathy with His Son is to deny the cry of Jesus which immediately followed the darkness and referred to it. For Jesus, the darkness was a period when He experienced whatever He may have meant by the words, "Why have you forsaken Me?"
The tearing of the curtain is another incredible physical phenomenon that causes ripples throughout the Jewish community.
At the precise moment Jesus cried out with a loud voice and committed his spirit to God, several unusual things happened. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split. Several tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of their tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many people.
If the darkness wasn’t testimony enough - God now underlined the earth-shattering importance of this event.
One of the more important things that happened was the tearing of the veil in the Temple. In the inner court of the temple in Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant. That was where the high priest would go once a year to offer atonement for the sins of the people. A veil, a very thick, woven curtain, separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple.
When Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, that heavy curtain was torn from top to bottom. It was not ripped from bottom to top, as though a man were ripping it. Instead, it was ripped from top to bottom, because God was ripping it.
God was saying, “You no longer are on the outside. You can come in. My Son has made a way for you.”
The apostle Paul explained how we can now draw near to God:
Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, (21) and having a High Priest over the house of God, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The veil was torn. Jesus is now our Intercessor. We don’t have to go through a person to reach God anymore. We don’t have to go through rituals anymore. Instead, Jesus made a new and living way for us to reach God.
What do these physical things proclaim? They proclaim that God can change the dynamics of the tried and trusted rules of life that most people take for granted.
Those ripples move throughout history and across that planet to this day. God broke the physical laws of His creation on Good Friday to underscore its importance. You see, Good Friday sends physical ripples throughout history that still ripple outward for us today.
The second change is symbolic
The procession of Jesus and the two thieves ended at the “Place of the Skull”. Seems appropriate for what was going to happen there. Did you know that some crosses bear the sign of the skull and cross bones? The symbol of the skull and cross bones is associated with Adam’s skull because through Adam and Eve death came into this world.
When I was younger, we tended to see the symbol of the skull and cross bones on toxic and dangerous chemicals or places. People work with all kinds of hazardous, dangerous materials in manufacturing facilities. Each substance has an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) close by for everyone to see. We were taught that this (skull and crossbones) was a symbol of danger and that we needed to treat the contents with care or to stay away from sites marked with the symbol.
We also tended to think of this symbol as being associated with pirate ships – dangerous ships crewed by dangerous men.
Things sure have changed regarding this symbol of the skull and cross bones. It has become ornamental. You see it on hats, tee shirts, skateboards, motorbikes, leather jackets, and jewelry. I have even seen a purse decorated with little symbols of the skull and cross bones. Maybe there is something dangerous in that purse, who can tell?
So why has this symbol become so popular and splashed all over the place? Is it a way to say that the person sporting it is dangerous? Or does it reflect the idea that the person is “playing with death” and with harmful things because it makes them feel tough or invincible? Is it a fascination with dark, spooky things? Is it just a matter of following the latest fad?
Sometimes those who sport the symbol of the skull and cross bones want to communicate a sense of power, toughness and defiance. So, they defy those who would challenge them and in some sense, they may be sending a threatening message of injury and death. They use the latent threat of death and the fear it creates to exercise freedom without restrictions or accountability. They use the threat of death as a means to their own ends.
In a way those who use this symbol in this way are a more vigorous expression of us all. We too want to do what we want without being curbed by others or even by God. There is a rebel at work in most of us one way or another; we want our way. Yet this approach to life, to relationships of all kinds, leads to alienation, injury and death. We all live under the threat of death and the toxicity of our sin.
How do we get out from under the power of the skull and cross bones caused by the sin in our lives?
At the place of the skull Jesus went straight into the heart of the matter by facing injury and death, taking them on, literally in his own body. Christ took them on even when they were doing their worst in causing harm and death to leave his body a bloodied corpse on the cross. He took on the symbol of the skull and cross bones that hangs over our lives; even as we are under the curse and the fear created by Adam and Eve’s choice that leads to death. So, we too carry the image of the skull of Adam. Even as some people tattoo the image of the skull on their skin, the power of sin is marked on every human heart. It is there and active even though we may not want it to be there.
Though Jesus was sinless He took that mark upon himself for us. He took on the death to which our sin leads as well as the harm and brokenness, the guilt and shame. He took it all on for you and me.
At the place of the skull Jesus engaged the sin and death that each of us deserves. The threat and fear of death does not stop him. He came under the sign of the skull and cross bones and his life in this world is ended. Death had done its full damage to him; he has consumed the full measure of that toxic cup of our sin and his physical body died as a result.
So, there is a massive ripple of Grace flowing out through history and the world.
Conclusion
But do you know the really incredible thing? The next day, despite everything that they had seen and heard – as far as we know – the normal person in Jerusalem just went about their normal business.
The people most responsible for Jesus’ death carried their denial to a ridiculous level by sealing the tomb and putting a guard outside – as if you can stop God with a guard.
It is incredible that – even with these incredible signs – people in Jerusalem did not perceive what was happening in their midst.
The fact that the citizens of Jerusalem and all the people who were gathered for the Passover could ignore all of this and carry on business as usual might come as nothing other than a shock to us. How could they miss the importance of what had just happened?
And yet today, on Good Friday as God again speaks into the world of his message of salvation, people still act as if there was no Savior and no eternity.
The message of the cross, while terrible, contains a message of hope for us who benefit from it. Through the power of Christ on the cross there is forgiveness and a new chance at life because of what Jesus accomplished there for us. While the cross is a symbol of suffering and torture and death, it is also a symbol of the great compassion of our God. There Jesus endured the worst that our sin can do in order to set us free from its poison in our lives and give us release, freedom and a new life in Him.