We as a society and we as humans detest things that are unfair or perceived to be unfair. We don’t like hearing stories of injustice. We hate stories of someone being taken advantage of, and we especially despise when that happens to us. When we talk about fairness, we often remember scenarios where we felt wronged or felt that we were treated unfairly. We maybe remember a parent treating us unfairly, or playing favorites with a sibling. We remember a boss who favored another employee, and we felt that we got the short end of the stick. We remember friends and acquaintances who have wronged us, and we bristle against those memories. We sometimes remember circumstances - a sickness, a financial trial, or an accident we got into that we felt like we didn't deserve. We naturally hate unfairness.
What’s ironic is that the most celebrated event of the year for Christians is Easter Weekend. And what we are celebrating tonight - Good Friday - is an event and series of events that, on the surface is nothing but unfair. In fact, the events of Good Friday on one level are the most unfair things to have ever happened, as Jesus himself was treated unfairly in every way imaginable - and he deserved none of it. He did no wrong. He didn’t deserve pain, rejection, insults, not to mention the death of a criminal
Then there’s those who benefit from these events. Us. Sinners like you and me. All the blessings that pour out of calvary are blessings that are entirely unfair to us. Because of Christ, we now receive blessings, grace, love and salvation that we do not deserve. How unfair grace is!
So at the cross, we see a great exchange. Jesus is treated the way that we should be treated, so that we can be saved. Let’s explore a few of these realities from the stories leading up to Jesus’ death.
1. Jesus was bound so we would be free.
- When I say Jesus was “bound”, I’m referring to his arrest and betrayal. Let’s look at the story.
- The week of Jesus’ death was one of the biggest weeks of the Jewish Calendar- Passover. Families from all over Israel traveled to Jerusalem, so hundreds of thousands of visiting people were in the city. At Passover, they celebrated and remembered how God had freed them from slavery in Egypt, and to commemorate this, each family brought a spotless lamb to be sacrificed at the temple. Historical records indicate that as many as 250,000 lambs would be sacrificed as part of the Passover.
- Jesus and his disciples celebrated their Passover meal together (we refer to this as the Last Supper), and after, walked to the Garden of Gethsemane to the east of Jerusalem to pray. There, he pleads 3 times that God would take “the cup from him
- Matthew 26:39- “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’”
- Here, Jesus asks God to let the cup pass from him. As a true human, Jesus in many ways wants to avoid what will happen on the cross, so he pleads with God. Yet as he prays, Jesus is not praying mainly with the physical punishment of crucifixion in mind; he is praying that the spiritual punishment of God’s wrath would pass- “Let this cup pass from me.”
- Luke 22:44- “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
- And as he prayed, here we find the most important sounds of the crucifixion story. Three times Jesus begs God to find another way to save mankind. Three times, God the father answers with silence. Through this silence, God made it clear that the only way for sinners to be saved was through the death of Jesus.
- After resolving that there was no other way, Jesus confidently says in Matthew 26:45-46, “See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” Jesus did not do this ignorantly, as John 18:4 tells us he was arrested, “knowing all that would happen to him.”
- John 18:12 tells us, “So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.”
- Jesus was not tricked, he was not cornered with no way out. He willingly was bound and arrested. The eternal, boundless creator of the universe permits himself to be bound and arrested by his creation.
- As I see Jesus bound by humans, retained by ropes & chains, arrested as a criminal, I can’t help but think of my own condition as a sinner. By nature and by choice, I am a slave to sin, a prisoner to my flesh, chained to a destiny of punishment. I cannot do anything but sin, and even the good I do is tainted by sinful motives. As I see Jesus bound here as a prisoner, I realize that I have been bound by my own sin as a human. And yet, Jesus became a prisoner to free us from our imprisonment.
- Romans 6:6-7 - “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. [7] For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
What happens to prisoners? They are put on trial. That brings us to point 2...
2. Jesus was found guilty so we would be clean.
- Jesus, undoubtedly tired and weary, is now taken (most likely after midnight) to a mockery of a trial before the Jewish high priests. Jesus actually went through 6 phases of trials, 3 from the Jewish authorities, and 3 from the Romans. But why did they find him guilty?
The Jews find him guilty of blasphemy, because he claimed to be God.
Matt. 26:63-66 - [63] But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” [64] Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [65] Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. [66] What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”
The Romans find him guilty of insurrection, because they wanted to silence the Jews.
- John 19:12-16- “From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.”
Ultimately, Jesus was not guilty. Even Pilate himself says, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” (Luke 23:22)
As I read about Jesus’ trials before Jewish and Roman courts, I cannot help but think of me and you and the divine court. Before God the righteous judge, no false witnesses are needed to find us guilty. No bloodthirsty crowds are needed to condemn us. No jealous colleagues or no insecure leaders need to be called to the stand to convict us of our sin. Unlike Jesus, if we were to go on trial before God, if we were to examine the evidence against ourselves, we would find ourselves to be unalterably and undeniably guilty.
Unlike us, Jesus was not a criminal, and not guilty of any crimes against Roman or Jewish law. Jesus was not a sinner, and not guilty of any sins against God’s law! Yet Jesus was found guilty, punished as though he was a sinner, so that we could be found innocent and made clean. The human courts found Jesus guilty of false crimes. The divine court punished Jesus for our crimes.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Romans 5:6 - “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
- Jesus became sin so we could become God's righteousness. He was found guilty so we could be clean.
3. Jesus was forsaken so we would be accepted.
- After Jesus was found guilty, he was beaten brutally before being crucified.
- “He was beaten, they put a crown of thorns on his head, and they mocked him” (Matt. 27:39-44)
- Many of you have heard of the physical suffering of crucifixion, and it cannot be overstated. Jesus had been awake all night, been beaten with fists, with whips, and mocked with a crown of thorns. It was very likely that his whole back was a deep, open wound at this point. They then nailed him to the cross, through his wrist bones, so it could hold the weight of his body. The wounds rubbed against the wood. Crucifixion victims had to push up on the nail in their feet to open up their airways and inhale. Eventually, they could no longer do this and they died by suffocation.
- Imagine Jesus. Mocked, naked, & bloody. Insults, spit, whips, fists have all been thrown on him for the last 12 hours. And yet while this happened, Jesus did not fight back. Rather Luke tells us, “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)
- This was not just any crucifixion. The death of Jesus was not only physical suffering, but spiritual abandonment.
Matthew 27:46 - “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
- We cannot even begin to describe the depths of what happened at this moment in human words. This was “the cup” that Jesus prayed about in the garden. At this moment, Jesus was bearing the sins of the world, and, because God cannot dwell with sin, he is punishing Jesus and turning his face away. At this moment, God’s wrath against sin that you and I deserve for eternity was placed on the perfect sacrifice. God treated Jesus as though he committed all of our sins. That’s why we sing...
“How great the pain of searing loss / The Father turns his face away”
There are many other details to the story, but I’d like to focus on just one more...
Matthew 27:50-51- “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
The curtain in the temple blocked off the Most Holy Place, where the presence of God himself was. It was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide, and only 1 Jew a year- the High Priest- went into the Most Holy Place, on the day of atonement, and he did so with utmost caution and preparation. Yet when Jesus dies - when his heart stops beating and his lungs stop filling with air - he pays our punishment so that we can be clean. Now the curtain is torn, the way is open, and we all have access to God by faith alone in Jesus.
There are so many benefits of Jesus’ death for us. A clean conscience. A purpose to live. A fellowship with one another. But the greatest benefit is a relationship with God. A daily relationship where he counsels you, he listens to you, he works with you, he forgives you, he challenges you, he cleans you, and he perfects you. Because Jesus was forsaken, treated as a dirty sinner,the veil is now torn, and we have access! We deserved to be forsaken, and in Christ we are accepted. We deserve to pray to God and hear silence, we deserve to say “Why have you forsaken me”, and yet we get acceptance instead.
- 1 Peter 3:18- “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God..”
- Romans 5:1- “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- Hebrews 10:19-20- “Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh...”
When you accept what Jesus did on the cross, You have access to God! Forever. God treats Christ on the cross as if he lived our sinful, wretched lives, so he can treat us everyday as if we lived Jesus perfectly godly life.
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