29-03-13 Podcast script
[Prepare]
‘See from his head, his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down.’ On this Good Friday, pause, reflect, and pray.
[Bible passage]
John 19:28–37
Jesus knew that he had now finished his work. And in order to make the Scriptures come true, he said, “I am thirsty!” A jar of cheap wine was there. Someone then soaked a sponge with the wine and held it up to Jesus' mouth on the stem of a hyssop plant.After Jesus drank the wine, he said, “Everything is done!” He bowed his head and died.
The next day would be both a Sabbath and the Passover. It was a special day for the Jewish people, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses during that day. So they asked Pilate to break the men’s legs and take their bodies down. The soldiers first broke the legs of the other two men who were nailed there.But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, and they did not break his legs.
One of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus' side, and blood and water came out. We know this is true, because it was told by someone who saw it happen. Now you can have faith too. All this happened so that the Scriptures would come true, which say, “No bone of his body will be broken” and, “They will see the one in whose side they stuck a spear.”
[Main point]
Centuries of perspective have given us a view of what was really going on that day. But to those around it was anything but clear.
The Jews and the Romans thought they’d just got rid of a heretical trouble-maker. But who had they nailed to the cross? John is at pains that we should know the truth. This death is not the end of a rebellious 33-year-old, but the fulfilment of centuries of longing, foretold in Scripture. No one is taking this person’s life, but he is giving it up.
Amazingly, here on this bleak hillside, the God of history was working out his strange plan and ‘offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world’ (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Could the people around the cross have seen this? No. Nor can we always see where God is at work in the bleakest and darkest moments of our lives. But Calvary shouts hope into our prisons of despair; where darkness has been darkest, the brightest light shall shine.
[Respond]
‘Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you’ (Psalm 139:12, NIV). Pray in the shadow of the cross for any you know who can only see the darkness today. Pray for the strength to hope for the dawning of God’s light.