Holy Week:  Good Friday

It took a long time for my heart to catch on to what my head understood about the term “Good Friday”.

Intellectually, I understood that it is considered “good” because it required all the horror- the emotional, spiritual, and extreme physical pain that took Jesus to the Cross so that He could die and be resurrected to complete the plan of our salvation. If there’s no death on Friday , then there is no resurrection on Sunday.

But emotionally?  I thought, “How could anyone in their right mind call a day like that good?”

Gratefully, I came to understand. Emotionality gave way to Holy Spirit infused Spirituality that revealed the genius and beauty of the day. Having a pastor who loved studying the original biblical languages, who brought the whole bible to life, my heart finally accepted the magnificent beauty of Good Friday, even though the physical eyes only see the dark destruction, intense agony, horror, and grief.

It Is Finished

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” ²⁹ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. ³⁰ So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.     ~ John 19:28-30

The Magnificent Beauty

Just before Jesus gave up his last breath, he was given Hyssop on a sponge.

Hyssop was used as a purifier by priests in ceremonial rites. Hyssop was in the blood put on the doorposts during the original Passover. Most importantly, hyssop was ordained by God to be applied to any lamb brought as an offering to Him as a sacrifice. (Leviticus 22)

The soldiers adding hyssop to the sponge to wet his mouth was not a coincidence; it was ordained by God (unknowingly by the soldiers) to be added as Jesus’ final preparation as the Lamb to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins for all of mankind.

This is just one of many prophecies carried out on this Friday that confirms Jesus as the Son of God, The Messiah.

As Jesus gave up His spirit, the words we read, “It is finished”, were recorded in Greek, and that word is Tetelestai.

Tetelestai was a word that was not used around home or casual situations. It was a word with a powerful purpose in three life-changing arenas.

Business:  tetelestai was stamped on an accounting bill of a great debt to document that the debt was PAID IN FULL. They could not be charged again. The debt was finished.

Judicial:  tetelestai stamped on a court judgment order meant that the judgment against the defendant was SERVED IN FULL. No additional charges could be added later.

Military:  the word Tetelestai was used to proclaim a great victory against a formidable enemy. It was a term saved to be used for only the most important and impactful battles, the ones where they knew the enemy could never rise up again.

When Jesus uttered “It is finished,” this is what He declared:

The debt of our sin is Paid In Full, once and for all time. It is over and done with forever.

The Judgment against our sin is fully served; there is nothing we can do to add or take away from that judgment. The judgment is final: Served In Full.

The Spiritual Victory over Sin and Death and Hell has been won! Nothing can change that now.  Sin has been defeated. Death has been defeated. Satan has been defeated. It’s final.

The work on the cross was complete 2,000 years ago.

Truly, the Friday Jesus died on the cross is a Good Friday, a magnificent day indeed!

But wait, you say, are we that callous to rejoice when we understand how much Jesus suffered?

Of course not. Before the celebration comes on Sunday, we must take the time to feel the grief and pain and weight of the suffering, to honor His love and sacrifice. Jesus was ”all in” for us: spiritually, emotionally, and physically, even unto death. He gave up everything for us.

We must take time for introspection and ask ourselves: Am I “all in” with Jesus? When you love someone, you share their pain. We can imagine that horrific experience  the best our minds will allow, and yet we won’t really be able to comprehend the vastness, the depth, the agony, of Jesus’ suffering. It is beyond our human comprehension.

Jesus knows each devoted heart who quiets our life to spend time with Him on this day, participating the best we can in sharing his pain and sorrow.

But our greatest gift to Him in response to His greatest gift to us, is to celebrate His victory with Him by surrendering our lives completely to Him.