Prevailing Purpose

In just a few days we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Pastel colors, Easter lilies, egg hunts, and joyful worship services are often part of the celebrations that we look forward to each year. But unlike Resurrection Sunday, Good Friday is not a day that we look forward to observing and it is tempting to gloss over the details. The day is a gruesome reminder of the depths of our sin and that the days leading up to Jesus’ resurrection were filled with tension, grief, and anguish.

Considering too closely the agony of these events can be tedious and uncomfortable, but acknowledging the lengths to which Jesus went on our behalf is not only important, but encouraging. Rightly so, we believe that Jesus is fully God, worthy of our worship and dedication. But he is also fully man and lived for 30 years on earth. He had parents, siblings, and friends. He laughed with his peers, wept as he buried his father, worked long hours of manual labor as a carpenter. He not only knew conceptually what it means to live in a fallen world and to be sinned against, he experienced it. And on Good Friday, he walked through some of the worst experiences and emotions that this world has to offer.

Consider the major events of Thursday evening and Friday:

• Judas’ Betrayal. At this point, Judas had already agreed to betray Jesus and was merely waiting on an opportunity to turn him over (Luke 22:1-6). But rather than sending him away, Jesus washed his feet along with the other disciples and allowed him to stay until the hour for his betrayal had come (John 13:1-30). Have you ever served someone who hated you? Have you been betrayed by a close friend?

• The Garden of Gethsemane. Before his arrest scripture gives us more insight into the inner turmoil that Jesus experienced. As the Son of God, he was steadfast, willing to suffer and die on our behalf. But as a man, he was terrified, rightly afraid of what was to come. As he battles the flesh, he cries out to God in prayer, sweating drops of blood and begging God to change the plan (Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:44). Have you been terrified in this way? Have you cried out to God begging him to change the inevitable?

• Arrested and abandoned. As his accusers arrive and Jesus is arrested, his dearest friends scatter and abandon him (Mark 14:43-50). He knows that it is necessary, but that would not stop the sting of loneliness, especially with your darkest hours ahead. Have you felt the pain of loneliness? Have you walked through significant suffering alone?

• Slandered and beaten. Jesus continues alone through false accusations, being spit on, beaten, and lied about all from people in positions of authority (Mark 14:53-65, 15:16-20). Have you been hurt, physically or emotionally, by someone who should have protected you? Has your name and reputation been ruined?

• Rejected by his people. As he stands next to Barabbas before the crowd that days before welcomed him as king, the very people whom he has come to rescue and redeem, they reject him and cry out for his brutal torture and death (Mark 15:6-15). Have you been rejected by someone you love? Have the people who once championed you turned against you?

• Physical torment. Even as he is hung upon the cross, thorns, nails, and whips having pierced his flesh, there is a crowd watching and mocking (Matthew 27:38, 44; John 19:17-24). Have you experienced physical suffering? Have you been harmed or experienced severe illness?

• Spiritual separation. Finally, and the worst of all, he is separated for the first and only time, from the Father. And it is this agony that is unbearable. In this moment he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45-47). Shortly after, he commits his spirit to the Lord, and dies (John 19:28-30). While the Lord has never abandoned you, have you felt as if he had? Have you cried out in pain and wondered where he is?

When we recall the story, we know that victory and joy and healing are just days away. But I encourage you on this Good Friday not to skip ahead to the resurrection. Allow yourself today to feel the weight, sorrow, and anguish of what Jesus experienced. You and I will never endure what Jesus did, but we do face other forms of suffering in our lives. Each day we feel the affects of sin and the sting of death: physical and mental illness plague us, we feel the crushing guilt of past offenses, we live with the aftermath of trauma, and death has or soon will separate us from those whom we love most on earth.

Why focus on all this suffering? Because, my friends, we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with us in our weakness, but one who in every way was tempted and yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). He has first hand experience of suffering. He knows what it is like to be tempted, lonely, rejected, assaulted, abandoned, mocked, slandered, and to feel the sting of death.

Our Lord knows.

He cares.

And he came to redeem and restore us.

Don’t skip ahead to the resurrection and minimize the suffering that Jesus endured. If you have never been to a Good Friday service, consider attending your local church’s service or find one near you. This year be intentional and allow yourself to feel the weight of tragedy and suffering and death before looking ahead to victory, and praise God, because we won’t stay there long, for we do not grieve as those who have not hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our Lord was resurrected and with him, so were we.

If you are walking through a difficult season and can benefit from biblical counseling, schedule a session with myself or another qualified counselor today.

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