Good Friday - The Death of Jesus
Carrying of the Cross
After Jesus is flogged and sentenced, he takes up his cross and begins his walk towards his death. I can only attempt to imagine (very poorly) what it might feel like to carry a heavy cross that rests on a torn up, raw, bloodied back. He is so weakened at this point that the soldiers force a passerby, Simon, to help him carry the cross.
Jesus’ perfect example shows us his patience, but it also shows us perseverance. He has a human body just like the rest of us, yet he continues to stumble onward.
Nailed to the Cross
Jesus arrives at the place where they will nail him to the cross. The next hours on the cross are intense and excruciating—the explosive pain that a nail piercing through flesh, tendons and muscles would have caused is too much for me to fathom.
Jesus’ Final Words
Jesus endures the initial blows of the nails, but then he intentionally endures further pain in order to speak from upon the cross. People die by asphyxiation in a crucifixion, so in order for Jesus to breathe, he would have had to put pressure on the wounds in his hands and feet in order to raise himself up. He did this again and again as he spoke his final words:
“Forgive them, Father”1
“You will be with me in Paradise”2
“Behold your mother…Behold your son”3
“I thirst”4
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”5
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”6
“It is finished”7
And with that, Jesus has died.
Sitting with Jesus
Jesus’ sacrifice is the reason we have been preparing for the past 40 days. It is essential for us to remember his moments of excruciating pain, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel. This is the reason God became man—to suffer death on a cross, “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”8
Let us be careful not to turn our eyes too quickly to Easter Sunday—we will rejoice when the time is right. But today, we spend it with our Lord and Saviour in his agony and death and ask ourselves:
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?”9
A very good question indeed.
A note about the art
I thought the bright red flower kind of looked like a blood stain, a reminder of the blood that was shed for us.