Good Friday Tenebrae

Good Friday

April 7, 2023

Text: John 19

            “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die” (John 19:7; ESV).  So said the Jews to Pilate of the bound, beaten, and bloodied Jesus.  But is it true?  In one sense, of course not.  Jesus has done nothing deserving of death.  Even Pontius Pilate recognizes that: “I find no guilt in him” (vv. 4, 6).  The Jews had been seeking false testimony against Jesus, in violation of the 8^th Commandment, the Law they supposedly revere.  Jesus is sinless.  In fact, the only human being in the annals of time who has not deserved death is this Man now standing trial.

            But in another sense, it is truer than the Jews, or any of us, could possibly imagine.  According to the Law of God, yes, He ought to die.  Not because He deserves it.  But because we deserve it.  And this is the only way to save us.  It is the only way to pay our debt.  His death is the only sacrifice that can make atonement for our sins.  His blood is the only Absolution.  The Law demands satisfaction.  No exceptions.  It’s Him or us.  It should be us.  But He will not have it.  So when they mock Him, and when they strike Him, Jesus does not flinch.  And at the false charges and the bloodthirsty cries of the crowd, “Crucify him, crucify him!” (v. 6), He answers not a word; “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Is. 53:7).

            The Jews, of course, are not concerned with the satisfaction of God’s Law.  Not really.  Much less Pontius Pilate and the band of Roman soldiers.  The Jews use God’s Law, and Pilate uses Caesar’s, as a pretext for doing their dirty work.  Note, both Jews and Gentiles are involved in this injustice.  The whole human race is represented.  And that means us.  And the issue is not that we actually want to fulfill the Law.  Both God’s Law and Caesar’s are violated throughout the whole affair.  We don’t care about fulfilling it.  We want to be free of it.  Like Adam and Eve, we want to know good and evil for ourselves.  And to gain such freedom, we know just what we have to do.  We have to kill God.  We have a Law, and that’s just the problem.  So to annul that Law and replace it with our own, Jesus must die.

            “Behold the man! … Behold your King!” (vv. 5, 14).  Pilate speaks the truth in spite of himself.  But then, the utter rejection: “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” (v. 15).  As for us, “We have no king but Caesar” (v. 15).  So Pilate, because he doesn’t want a riot, another messy Jewish revolt, gives in to popular opinion.  He does not deliver justice.  He delivers Jesus over to be crucified. 

            But again, in another sense, he does deliver justice.  For this is the way God may be, as Paul says in Romans 3, both Just (that is, Righteous in His judgment against our sin), and the Justifier of those who have faith in Jesus Christ.  God is not the kind of Judge who simply dismisses sin.  If He did that, He wouldn’t be just.  Nor would he be holy.  The Holy and Just God must punish sin.  And we are sinners, so He must punish us.  Unless… unless He offers a Substitute.  And understand, that Substitute has to be sinless.  Otherwise He can only die for His own sins.  And He has to be a Man, a flesh and blood human being.  Otherwise He cannot die, much less die in our place.  Incidentally, He also has to be a Man, as in a Male.  Otherwise He cannot undo the damage done by the first Man, Adam.  But He has to be more than that, because one who is merely a flesh and blood man, even if he were sinless and righteous and holy and perfect, could only die a death of individual value.  So this Substitute has to be God.  He has to be God so His death can count for all humanity throughout history.  He has to be God because that is the sacrifice of infinite value the Law demands in order to set us all free.  He has to be God because He is the Author and Giver of the Law.  He is the only Standard by which the Law is measured.  Only a Man who is God could measure up.  The rest of us, without exception, fall far short (Rom. 3:23).  So you see, it really is true.  To gain our freedom from the Law… that is, not from the good things the Law holds before our eyes, but from the Law’s sentence of condemnation… we have to kill God.  To gain our freedom from the Law of sin and death, and come under the freedom and gracious rule of the Law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), Jesus must die.

            He must die if He is to be enthroned over the Place of the Skull, the place of death and eternal condemnation.  “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).  He must die if Pilate is to make this legal proclamation.

            He must die if He is to clothe soldiers and sinners, gamblers and thieves with His own skin… to strip Adam of his futile fig leaves, clothing him, and us, his children, with the Sacrifice of Righteousness. 

            He must die if He is to set the solitary in a family (Ps. 68:6).  “Woman, behold, your son!” (John 19:26).  And to the disciple He loves, “Behold, your mother!” (v. 27).  Mary for John, and John for Mary.  Mother Church for the Christian, and Christians for the Church.  And you, brothers and sisters, each one for the other, each forgiven and redeemed. 

            He must die to slake His thirst for your righteousness (v. 28).  He must die if it is to be finished, the atonement for your sins.  He must die to give up His Spirit (v. 30).  To exhale, to breathe Him out, and unleash Him on the world, that we may be saved.

            He must die, that in the deep sleep of death, from His side, God may fashion Him a Bride, a new Eve, a new “Mother of All the Living,” born of blood and water (v. 34), His, pooled in font and chalice.  He must die, that they may look on Him whom they have pierced (v. 37).  That we may look on Him, and believe, and so not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

            Jesus must be crucified, dead, and buried in the tomb of the transgressors… note this, this is why we can’t just skip over Good Friday and go straight to Easter… because if He isn’t crucified, dead, and buried, He can’t be raised.  And the tomb cannot be empty.  It will have to be filled with the transgressors for whom it was intended, and that is to say, you and me.

            We have a Law, and according to that Law… there must be death.  Jesus dies that death.  And that is why we call this Friday “Good.”  The tomb is not for us.  Jesus put Himself there in our place.  Now God finds no guilt in us.  He is Just, and Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  And the Third Day is coming.  And here we are, alive, and free.  Because Jesus died for us.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.