Good Friday Chief Service

Text: John 18-19

+INJ+

Last night's service ushered in the silence. However, silence this night is meant to provide an opportunity to be still before the Lord so that you may meditate upon the readings of Holy Scripture, your Lord’s Passion, and your status before the cross of Christ.

Silence is uncomfortable.

But there is a deep, dark silence that dwells within you. It’s the silence that avoids the confession of your sin. It’s the silence that retains forgiveness from a spouse or child, a friend or co-worker. It’s the sad state of man that lacks peace with God as man’s heart becomes hardened and cold.

The situation you often find yourself in is that you think and behave like children who don’t listen to the voice of your father or mother.

When a child breaks a family heirloom or a teenager totals a car, the parent calls the child to confess their sin. The weight of the law convicts you while the air becomes heavy, and anxiety fills your mind standing before the judgment.

But as a child, you begin to think, “If I don’t confess, they can’t blame me, the law cannot accuse me, and then they cannot convict me of my sin.”

This is the history of mankind. Your history.

Adam and Eve did not listen to and obey God’s command in the Garden of Eden. They hid from God, believing if they remained silent and hid from their Creator, they would not receive punishment.

David, the great king, tried to cover his sin of adultery with the sin of murder, yet God sent Nathan to call David to confess his sin, a sin that could not be hidden from the eyes of God.

If you remain silent, you would like to believe you can hide your faults, worries, heartaches, and trespasses from the Lord as you would a parent or friend. But Scripture clearly reveals that your lives are fully known to Him, who created you.

But for this reason, God is faithful, and his promise to send a Savior is fulfilled in His Son, Jesus Christ. The savior whom John the Baptist proceeds in calling all to repentance and announcing the arrival of “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

This is why you are led to sit before the cross of Good Friday, meditate upon the nails that pierced Christ’s hands and feet, and hear of his betrayal, denial of his closest friends, and the scourging and beating He suffered.

The cross reveals the Lamb who is sacrificed for you and in your place.

The journey to the cross this night is the culmination of Lent. This journey forces you into quiet contemplation of how you have not confessed your sins to God or your neighbor, nor have you extended grace and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you.

Soon, the Reproaches will be sung. They leave no room for escape from sin as God calls you through His Word to task.  But the choir’s petition and the congregation’s prayer are your plea for mercy and forgiveness.

When you sing and pray, “O Lord, have mercy,” you confess your complete trust in Jesus and His salvific work upon the cross. Your pleas for mercy, confess your unwavering faith in the words of the epistle this night from Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

How is this possible?

Because Jesus took upon Himself the flesh of man, Pilate’s exclamation to the crowd, “Behold the man!” confesses just this. Jesus was born in a manger to a virgin. He suffered the temptations of the devil, felt sadness over death, and was filled with joy over the repentant.

However, when your lips cease to confess your sins, when your pleas for mercy quiet, your faith begins to diminish, and by this silence, your voice joins those of the crowds of Good Friday, saying, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Yet, as the prophet Isaiah writes, for you, “The LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

For you, Christ Jesus opened not His mouth until the appointed time, crying out, “It is finished!”

With these words, He gives up His spirit, and “death has rattled life’s last breath within His throat,” but in that moment, death has been silenced.

“It is finished” pierces the isolation sin causes you; it penetrates your ears and your hearts this night so that your tongues may be loosened to confess the sins of your life, so that with your ears you hear the joyful words of forgiveness and peace.

Yet silence remains uncomfortable for you, at times even fearful. But you dear friends already know the end of this story. So, do not be afraid. Sit quietly and hear the word of the Lord—use your words to confess your sins boldly before one another as before God your Father in heaven, knowing and trusting that Jesus intercedes for you.

If you find yourself in the silent struggle of sin or temptation, broken relationships, or shame, look to the cross. Run to it!

From the cross flows to you Christ’s mercy. The sacrifice of the Lamb on the cross is now present for you in the flesh and blood of the altar for the forgiveness of all your sins. By this sacrament and Christ’s Word, you are nourished and given a hope that will sustain you all the days of this life.

So be still this night and ponder what Christ has done for you and how He has defeated sin, death, and the devil. Ponder how He has won for you the forgiveness of your sins by His crucifixion, and trust that when you submit your pleas for mercy to Him, you are forgiven. +INJ+