Good Friday
MARCH 29
The Violence that Bought Our Victory
Devotional by Dave Zuleger, Pastor for Preaching & Vision
So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 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?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 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 15:31–39
So much happened on Friday, but here we zoom in on the final moments of Jesus before his death on the fine-tuned torture and death machine of the Romans. What did he experience?
Reviling: The crowds mocked the ability of Jesus to save others (perhaps the resurrection of Lazarus still fresh on their minds) and not save himself. They mocked him as “the Christ” and “the King of Israel.” Little did they know that it was “too light a thing” for Jesus to save Israel only––but this Savior, this Messiah, this crucified King could not save himself if he would save others. And Jesus was committed to his Father’s will (Isaiah 53) to be “a blessing to all nations” (Genesis 12) by saving a people from their sins through his sacrificial death. The reviling he received was for the cause of our redemption. The curses he heard were for the cause of reversing the curse of sin and bringing many daughters and sons to glory.
Rejection: Yes, he was rejected by the people. But, more deeply and significantly, he was rejected by his Father at this moment: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Yes, he knew the plan of his redemption to be played out in his taking on flesh, living the life of obedience we could never live, and dying a substitutionary death we deserved to die. But knowing the plan didn’t take away the pain of this moment. As Jesus bore all our sins on the cross, his Father turned his face away. Jesus became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus bore our sins in his body, the Father turned his face away––so that we would not have to bear our sins and so that our heavenly Father would never need to turn away from us. Because of Jesus, we never need to wonder if the Father has turned his face away. He hasn’t. He won’t. We are covered in the righteousness of Christ and our Father is for us and Jesus intercedes on our behalf.
Violence: Jesus really experienced death. He experienced the violence of the nails causing pain, of his breath escaping him, and his body shutting down. This wasn’t quick or pleasant. It was long and torturous. The Romans had mastered the art of violence against criminals and insurrectionists to make an example that would keep others from following in their footsteps. As Jesus hung as an accused criminal, the torture, violence, and unjust brutality he experienced played out in real time. Sometimes, it is easy to remove the violence from this and just think of the significance of what his death accomplished. But the violence shows the seriousness of sin. The violence shows the real cost of the sacrifice. The violence shows the deep love of our triune God for the salvation of sinners and the glory of his Name. We should pause and thank the Lord for taking the violent punishment for sin that we deserved.
Vindication: Jesus utters a loud cry and breathes his last. “It is finished!” is the cry. I take this as a kind of victory cry. Not the kind of victory cry that is taunting his opponents. (Jesus prayed for their forgiveness because they didn’t know what they were doing.) Rather, a kind of settled, sure, and emphatic cry emphasizing that he has finished the work his Father gave him to do in this grand plan of redemption. As he breathed his last, he knew he had made it. He knew Satan and sin had received the decisive blow to their treacherous work.
And at least one person saw all of this and confirmed it. “Truly, this man was the Son of God!” Truly he was. Truly he took on flesh. Truly he lived the perfect, obedient life we couldn’t live. Truly he died the death we deserved to die in our place as a perfect, worthy, substitute sacrifice. Truly he was the Son of God.
As you reflect on the reviling, rejection, violence, and vindication - will you again trust him?
