Good Friday

Do you know what was the darkest moment of the year all over the earth in 2022? An organization called EarthSky.org does. Their computers determined that on the night of December 6, 2022 “global darkness” cast almost 9 out of 10 people in the world in darkness. At some point during that night, Africa, Asia, and most of Europe were dark. In fact, there was a precise point on that night in which 86% of the people in the world were in total darkness. That’s fascinating to think that such a large percentage of the Earth’s population could be in total darkness at a precise moment in time. Of course, they wouldn’t have known it. Most of them were asleep since most of that time was at night—blissfully unaware that a group of scientists were tracking their participation in this event that was significant only to a few curious researchers.But it wasn’t the middle of the night when Jesus was crucified on Golgotha. It was the middle of the day . . . and yet the land was covered with darkness.Matthew 27:45 reads like this, “From noon on, darkness came over the whole the land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani.”  That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”Theologian R.T. France points out that this cry of anguish from the cross marked the only time in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark or Luke that Jesus ever addressed God without calling him “Father.” That certainly marks the depth of his despair. But don’t you think that, when he uttered these words, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing? After all, he was quoting from Psalm 22, a messianic prophecy that ends with words of hope and praise. He was reminding us in his final moments that his suffering was necessary for our sanctification. His agony was necessary for our atonement. His forsakenness was necessary for our forgiveness.Jesus only said aloud what the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders were thinking. “He saved others,” they said, “but he cannot save himself! If 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.’”  “Let God rescue him now if he wants him.” As Jesus hangs in agony on the cross, that is the question that hangs over the crowd that day. Why did God forsake Jesus? If Jesus was the Son of God, why didn’t God rescue him?During the Second World War, six U.S. Navy pilots left their aircraft carrier on a mission. After searching the seas for enemy submarines, they tried to return to their ship shortly after dark. But the captain had ordered a blackout of all lights on the ship. Even a faint glimmer of light could have attracted the attention of enemy ships and airplanes.Over and over the frantic pilots radioed, asking for just one light so they could see to land. But the ship’s radio operator insisted that the blackout could not be lifted. Too many lives were at stake. After several appeals and denials of their request, the ship’s operator turned the switch to break radio contact completely—and the pilots were forced to ditch their planes in the ocean. Similarly, it was necessary for Christ to offer himself as a sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Too many lives were at stake. Indeed, the spiritual life of every person who ever lived was at stake. Indeed, your life and mine.Jesus’ life was not taken from him. He offered himself as the perfect and final sacrifice. At the moment of Jesus’ death, we read these words in verse 51: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom . . .”The veil separated the people from the temple’s Holy of Holies, and it had done so for centuries. According to tradition, the veil was woven of seventy-two twisted plaits, each plait consisting of twenty-four threads. The veil was apparently sixty feet long and thirty feet wide.The tearing of the veil that separated people from the Holy of Holies signified that, through Jesus, all people had gained access to God. We no longer need a high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies and make sacrifices for us. Jesus became the sacrifice that opened up access to God.It’s a bit like the law that opened up access for people with disabilities on elevators. In 1990, federal legislators passed the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the rights of individuals with a variety of disabilities. One interesting consequence of this legislation is that, by law, all elevator doors are set to remain open for at least three seconds before beginning to close. And there is an open-door button in every elevator to allow passengers to keep the doors open as long as is necessary for every passenger to enter in.In fact, no matter how many times you press the close-door button, it cannot override the three second open-door setting. In effect, the Americans with Disabilities Act made the close-door button obsolete.Jesus died to make the veil of separation between us and God obsolete. Through him, we have access to the fullness of God.  It’s an open door.Jesus allowed himself to be forsaken, he allowed himself to be tortured and humiliated, he offered up his life on our behalf to declare victory over the power of death. His death, covered in suffering and shame, looks like the ultimate defeat. Yet at the moment that he yielded up his spirit, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many people who had died were raised to life. Jesus’ death destroyed the power of death for all time. His death opened the door to eternal life. His forsakenness bought our forgiveness.A pastor recalled a conversation he had with a parishioner who said to him, “I’m coming to the service on Good Friday, but I don’t like how it ends, so I won’t be there all the way through.”I can understand that. Nobody likes the way it ends. But think about this: Jesus knew how Good Friday would end. And he still chose to stick around.“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” His forsakenness bought our forgiveness. His abandonment allowed us access to God. And his moment of total darkness released us from the power of death. That’s what makes this coming Friday good.