Good Friday
The Collect
The Collect
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LMIGHTY God,
we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus
Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men,
and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and
the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
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LMIGHTY and
everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and
sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee
for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in
his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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ERCIFUL God,
who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the
death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy
upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take
from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so
fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock
under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee
and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
As we turn down the bright lights of the Sanctuary in reverence to the great
sacrifice that was made for us, let us not forget to "Let the Lower Lights
be Burning." In our acknowledgement of ourselves as the Lower Lights, we
are acknowledging that Christ – the Light that was briefly extinguished on this
day – is the Greater Light; in fact, the Light of the World, and we are His
disciples and Lower Lights. That brilliant Light that burst forth out of the
Tomb on Easter morning will never be extinguished!
So
what is so good about `Good' Friday? Was it not a day of horrible suffering and
pain for our Redeemer? Yes, it was that. His virtue and modesty were violated
in addition to the terrific pain He bore. He even tolerated the dogs of avarice
to ridicule Him while He hung naked there on that instrument of torture called
the cross. What forbearance He displayed in not calling down the armies of
Heaven (as most of us would have done had we the power as He
had). Being lifted up as the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, He drew all men
to Himself who had been stung by the fiery serpent and Prince of the Air. He
lingered there for hours in the heat of the sun, and to the shame of the
multitudes. He was so thirsty that His tongue clave to the roof of His mouth.
Yet, His heart of Mercy was not stopped from expressing forgiveness and
reception even to a thief on an adjacent cross.
So why is Friday of the
Crucifixion considered so `Good?' It is because the greatest good that has ever
been done to humanity was given at the greatest cost that has ever been
paid. As He hung there, His eyes of compassion blurred by pain, blood, and
clammy perspiration, His great heart swelled with all of the hurt and guilt
that you or I have ever felt. Not only did His heart contain all of that hurt
for the present generation that had crucified Him, but for the millions and
billions of people from eternity past to eternity future. His weary eyes looked
out on a horizon that was far too distant for the Roman soldiers and the cruel
multitudes gathered there to see. Never doubt that He saw your face from that
high vantage point of the cross.
What
do you suppose was forefront in His Mind as He beheld His executioners dividing
His garments by lot at the foot of the cross? When He heard the scribes,
priests, and Pharisees deriding and mocking Him, what do you suppose was in His
heart of Mercy? Father, forgive them;
for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) This is the first
of seven words, or utterances, expressed by our Lord from the cross that day at
Calvary. This utterance is consistent with my own belief that the mind of
a sinner is maddened and crazed by sin. He truly does not know the great
ramifications of sin. He cannot at all help himself. He must be drawn, as a net
the fish, to Christ on the cross. And because of that shameful event on
Calvary, 2,000 years ago, the net of the Holy Ghost has been drawing men to
Christ on the cross ever since. But the story does not end at the cross! It is
only after we have taken grips of that rough-hewn cross that we bear it to an
open tomb. Just as Christ needed only a borrowed Tomb, so shall all who
take up that cross daily and follow Him. If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,
and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Do you
ever wonder why Christ pronounced those words of request to the Father – did He
not have power to forgive sins? Yes, Jesus had power to forgive all sins;
however, this particular sin was not against Him alone, but was also directly
against God the Father. It was the only Begotten Son of God who was being
crucified. The forgiveness of the Father was also necessary to forgive such an
egregious sin against His own beloved Son. `FORGIVENESS'. Let us forever
remember that this was the first word Christ spoke from the cross for, without
forgiveness of our sins, there is no remission of sin; and, if there is no
remission of sin, then do we believe in vain. (Romans 3:25, 1 Cor 15:1-2, et
al) And for whom did Christ plead forgiveness? For the most murderous
malefactors imaginable (and that would include you and me, Friend).
They
laid Christ down upon the cross and drove nine inch spikes into His hands and
feet. What a terrible thud that must have been! They then, without the
slightest compassion for their victim, lifted the cross up and slide it into
the posthole which had been prepared. This caused a shocking and penetrating
pain in the body of Christ from head to foot as the cross fell into the
posthole with the force of all its weight. The sudden impact may even have
caused the shoulder sockets to be pulled out of place further reducing the
Lord's ability to lift Himself in order to breath. (see a deeper account of the
horror of the cross in Psalms 22). The purpose of that cross was to inflict the
greatest pain while prolonging the life of the victim as long as possible so
that the duration as well would be greatest. Yet, the first words of Christ was
a plea for forgiveness for those who "knew not what they did". We
have not such a heart of forgiveness. If another hurts us with the slightest
offending word, we remember it to our graves. How much different is Christ!
You
will remember that on the night previous to His passion, the Lord prepared a
Table for us in the presence of our enemies. This is the Communion Table
whereby we draw near by faith in regular observance of our salvation in
His shed Blood and Body broken for us. Our cup runneth over as we observe the
service of the Cup symbolizing His Blood, and Bread, His Body broken for us.
You
will recall that Christ pronounced six other utterances from the cross: the
second word was Salvation (Today shalt thou
be with me in paradise –
spoken to the repentant thief on the adjacent cross); the third word is LOVE –
"Woman, behold thy Son….Behold thy
mother – spoken to John and the mother of Jesus, Mary; the
fourth word is ATONEMENT – "My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus took upon Himself the sins
of the world. God, the Father, could not behold sin. He turned His face away as
darkness fell upon all the land. I like to think of this quality as being
"at-one-ment" with God. His death reconciled us to God through the
remission of sin. Without that propitiary death, we would still be without
hope. This was an expression, by Jesus, of spiritual suffering. This was the
greatest hurt of all.
The fifth word was a word of
`physical suffering.' "I thirst."
Our physical suffering may even be useful in making us thirst for the Word of
God and the hope it holds forth. Perhaps we are justified to weep at the tender
thought expressed in Psalms: O God, thou art my God; early will I seek
thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and
thirsty land, where no water is; 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I
have seen thee in the sanctuary. (Psalms 63:1-2)
Next
comes the sixth word - considered the greatest single word ever uttered:
"It is finished!"
Had Jesus not uttered this word, it would still not be finished. In the Greek,
this utterance is, indeed, a single word - ôåôá½³ëåóôáé. The
sacrifice, established in the Councils of Heaven from before the foundations of
the world, had now been consummated. ALL that was required for the
salvation of the soul of man had been done. Now the dimensions of time are
constrained to that single moment that follows. The seventh word from the
cross: Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit: and having said
thus, he gave up the ghost. (Luke 23:46) His giving up of the spirit
enabled the Comforter to come and soothe our pains and hurts of sin. Had
Christ not given up the Ghost, the Holy Ghost would not be with us to teach and
lead us into all truth about Christ (for He speaketh not of His own).
Now,
having reviewed all seven of those words, let us not forget the foundation of
all that followed the first word – FORGIVENESS.
Have
you been forgiven this Good Friday. If not, all the other works of Christ are
of no efficacy to you, Friend.
