GOOD FRIDAY
Worship
Scripture Notes
For use with Common, Lutheran and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
It is not likely that the followers of Jesus had much direct information about what the Roman military authorities did to Jesus from the time that they seized him until they led him and two captured guerrilla fighters through the city of Jerusalem to the crucifixion site outside the city wall. Oppressive occupation forces are not known to provide fair public trials for the leaders of the oppressed people they control. For the oppressed there is no justice. There is only the demonstration of power and punitive force so that a few can control many with as little expense as possible.
When the oppressors seize leaders of the oppressed or guerrilla fighters of the oppressed under these circumstances, it is virtually certain that the leaders and the fighters of the oppressed will be condemned to death, and for the Romans in Palestine during the first century that meant death in the slow, painful, degrading process of public crucifixion. The oppressors' purpose was not merely to kill the leaders and the guerrilla fighters of the oppressed; it was to discourage anyone else among the oppressed from emerging as either a leader or a guerrilla fighter to give others who were also oppressed hope that something could be done to relieve their oppression.
In these conditions, mockery and torture of the leaders and guerrilla fighters is common, both in an attempt to extract additional information that can be used to incriminate others and to satisfy the sadistic tendencies of military personnel who serve for long periods of time in conditions that alternate between danger and boredom. We can be certain that mockery and torture were used by the Romans against Jesus after they had seized him.
When the writers of the Four Gospels compiled the accounts of the events in Jesus' life from the time that he was seized in the Garden of Gethsemane until he was led through the city of Jerusalem on the way to the cross, they lacked the resource of reminiscences of eyewitnesses to Jesus' activities. None of Jesus' followers were taken with him into Roman custody. Nevertheless, they used effectively three major resources available to them. First, they had considerable indication within the traditions about Jesus of how Jesus would have conducted himself under conditions of mockery and torture. Second, they had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Finally, they used bits and pieces of texts from the Israelite Scriptures, especially from the psalms that describe intense human suffering and from the Servant of the Lord songs in the Isaiah traditions. We can say that the resource of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guided them also as they utilized the other two resources. Here also the writer of the Gospel According to Mark was the inspired innovator. The writers of Matthew, Luke, and even of John follow the Markan tradition quite closely in the passion sections of the Gospels.
Common:
Psalm 22:1-18
Lutheran: Psalm 22:1-23
As the followers of Jesus looked back to his crucifixion and to the significance that they saw in it for their lives, no texts from the Israelite Scriptures were more helpful to them in their descriptions of Jesus' passion than were Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13--53:12, two of the readings selected for Good Friday in our lectionaries. The inspired writers used the vivid details of these two texts in their telling of the story of Jesus' passion in order to fill in the gaps in the reminiscences of eyewitnesses. The portions of these two texts that could not be incorporated into the accounts of Jesus' passion were simply not used. Most portions of Psalm 22, a detailed individual psalm of lament, and of Isaiah 52:13--53:12, the fourth and most fully developed of the Suffering Servant of the Lord Songs, served well to depict Jesus' inner struggles during his passion and to demonstrate how Jesus' suffering may have appeared to outside observers, even though neither portion of the Israelite Scriptures in its original context was intended to portray Jesus' passion. Our Christian hymns for Holy Week and Good Friday develop these details even further than the New Testament texts do and implant them into our memory. It is important, of course, for us as Christians to read and study the entire Psalm 22 within its own life situation before we proceed to use it in the telling of the story of Jesus' passion.
Roman Catholic: Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
In addition to Psalm 22, portions of the individual laments in Psalm 31 were used by the writers of the passion of Jesus accounts in the Gospels. The Lukan writer in particular seems to have used a statement of faith from Psalm 31 in the words of the Lukan Jesus from the cross, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and in the words of Luke's Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Common, Roman Catholic: Isaiah 52:13--53:12
That which has been said about Psalms 22 and 31 above applies also to this climax of the Suffering Servant Songs of the Isaiah traditions. We can, of course, merely continue to see these texts as amazingly accurate messianic prophecies that describe in detail the passion of Jesus hundreds of years before it occurred. We can say that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and to die in a certain way in order to fulfill these Scriptures. Ultimately, however, it will be more helpful to the people among whom we serve if we suggest in our proclamation that followers of Jesus probably used details from Psalms 22 and 31 and from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 texts in their telling of the story of Jesus' passion during the decades after he was crucified by the Romans.
Lutheran: Hosea 6:1-6
An advantage in the use of this text on Good Friday is that it brings an Easter message into the Good Friday service. Its "After two days the Lord will revive us; on the third day the Lord will raise us up" with a modification from plural to singular form appears to be a prediction of the resurrection of Jesus. This is further strengthened by the analogies that follow regarding the coming of the Lord being as sure as the dawn, like the spring showers that water the land. For Christian use, our reading should include only 6:1-3.
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
These two text segments from the extended argumentation of the Epistle to the Hebrews provide an interpretation of Jesus that is different from all others within the New Testament. Because this interpretation is so different - Jesus is certainly not portrayed as our great High Priest within the Synoptic Gospels or in John - this document was not easily accepted into the New Testament canon. The prayers and supplications of Hebrews 5:7 bring this text a little closer to the Gospel accounts, but the depiction of Jesus as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek in 5:9 takes it away from them.
John 18:1--19:42
(or John 19:17-30)
As indicated above in the introduction to these Good Friday texts, the accounts of the questioning and torture of Jesus after he had been seized by the Romans are similar in many details in all Four Gospels. This similarity is not necessarily a multiple attestation indication of the historicity of the details. It merely indicates that with limited resources in the tradition the other Gospels were heavily dependent on Mark's Gospel in this section. The variations from the Markan account in the other Gospels reflect the particular perspectives of each of the other Gospels.
Comments here will be limited to the first segment of the shorter reading (John 19:17-20). The Fourth Gospel provides the most complex description of the inscription on Jesus' cross. It gives the title "King of the Jews," which could be used repeatedly by the Romans, whenever they crucified a leader of the Jews, and the specific name "Jesus of Nazareth." The Fourth Gospel also states that the inscription on Jesus' cross that designated the reason for the political execution was written in the three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that it could be read and understood by everyone who would see it. The Roman oppressors wanted to advertise as broadly as possible what they were doing to this leader of the Jews and to the two Jewish guerrilla fighters whom they crucified on either side of him.
In our Good Friday messages it is important that we explain that it was Romans who crucified Jesus, the Romans who occupied Palestine during the first century and oppressed the Jews. While there were undoubtedly a few Jews who cooperated with the Roman oppressors and with them were worried that Jews who had been given hope by Jesus would rebel, most of Jesus' fellow Jews in Palestine who knew Jesus grieved when Jesus was seized by the Romans and would have tried to rescue him if they would have thought that they had any chance to be successful.
When the oppressors seize leaders of the oppressed or guerrilla fighters of the oppressed under these circumstances, it is virtually certain that the leaders and the fighters of the oppressed will be condemned to death, and for the Romans in Palestine during the first century that meant death in the slow, painful, degrading process of public crucifixion. The oppressors' purpose was not merely to kill the leaders and the guerrilla fighters of the oppressed; it was to discourage anyone else among the oppressed from emerging as either a leader or a guerrilla fighter to give others who were also oppressed hope that something could be done to relieve their oppression.
In these conditions, mockery and torture of the leaders and guerrilla fighters is common, both in an attempt to extract additional information that can be used to incriminate others and to satisfy the sadistic tendencies of military personnel who serve for long periods of time in conditions that alternate between danger and boredom. We can be certain that mockery and torture were used by the Romans against Jesus after they had seized him.
When the writers of the Four Gospels compiled the accounts of the events in Jesus' life from the time that he was seized in the Garden of Gethsemane until he was led through the city of Jerusalem on the way to the cross, they lacked the resource of reminiscences of eyewitnesses to Jesus' activities. None of Jesus' followers were taken with him into Roman custody. Nevertheless, they used effectively three major resources available to them. First, they had considerable indication within the traditions about Jesus of how Jesus would have conducted himself under conditions of mockery and torture. Second, they had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Finally, they used bits and pieces of texts from the Israelite Scriptures, especially from the psalms that describe intense human suffering and from the Servant of the Lord songs in the Isaiah traditions. We can say that the resource of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guided them also as they utilized the other two resources. Here also the writer of the Gospel According to Mark was the inspired innovator. The writers of Matthew, Luke, and even of John follow the Markan tradition quite closely in the passion sections of the Gospels.
Common:
Psalm 22:1-18
Lutheran: Psalm 22:1-23
As the followers of Jesus looked back to his crucifixion and to the significance that they saw in it for their lives, no texts from the Israelite Scriptures were more helpful to them in their descriptions of Jesus' passion than were Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13--53:12, two of the readings selected for Good Friday in our lectionaries. The inspired writers used the vivid details of these two texts in their telling of the story of Jesus' passion in order to fill in the gaps in the reminiscences of eyewitnesses. The portions of these two texts that could not be incorporated into the accounts of Jesus' passion were simply not used. Most portions of Psalm 22, a detailed individual psalm of lament, and of Isaiah 52:13--53:12, the fourth and most fully developed of the Suffering Servant of the Lord Songs, served well to depict Jesus' inner struggles during his passion and to demonstrate how Jesus' suffering may have appeared to outside observers, even though neither portion of the Israelite Scriptures in its original context was intended to portray Jesus' passion. Our Christian hymns for Holy Week and Good Friday develop these details even further than the New Testament texts do and implant them into our memory. It is important, of course, for us as Christians to read and study the entire Psalm 22 within its own life situation before we proceed to use it in the telling of the story of Jesus' passion.
Roman Catholic: Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
In addition to Psalm 22, portions of the individual laments in Psalm 31 were used by the writers of the passion of Jesus accounts in the Gospels. The Lukan writer in particular seems to have used a statement of faith from Psalm 31 in the words of the Lukan Jesus from the cross, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and in the words of Luke's Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Common, Roman Catholic: Isaiah 52:13--53:12
That which has been said about Psalms 22 and 31 above applies also to this climax of the Suffering Servant Songs of the Isaiah traditions. We can, of course, merely continue to see these texts as amazingly accurate messianic prophecies that describe in detail the passion of Jesus hundreds of years before it occurred. We can say that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and to die in a certain way in order to fulfill these Scriptures. Ultimately, however, it will be more helpful to the people among whom we serve if we suggest in our proclamation that followers of Jesus probably used details from Psalms 22 and 31 and from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 texts in their telling of the story of Jesus' passion during the decades after he was crucified by the Romans.
Lutheran: Hosea 6:1-6
An advantage in the use of this text on Good Friday is that it brings an Easter message into the Good Friday service. Its "After two days the Lord will revive us; on the third day the Lord will raise us up" with a modification from plural to singular form appears to be a prediction of the resurrection of Jesus. This is further strengthened by the analogies that follow regarding the coming of the Lord being as sure as the dawn, like the spring showers that water the land. For Christian use, our reading should include only 6:1-3.
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
These two text segments from the extended argumentation of the Epistle to the Hebrews provide an interpretation of Jesus that is different from all others within the New Testament. Because this interpretation is so different - Jesus is certainly not portrayed as our great High Priest within the Synoptic Gospels or in John - this document was not easily accepted into the New Testament canon. The prayers and supplications of Hebrews 5:7 bring this text a little closer to the Gospel accounts, but the depiction of Jesus as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek in 5:9 takes it away from them.
John 18:1--19:42
(or John 19:17-30)
As indicated above in the introduction to these Good Friday texts, the accounts of the questioning and torture of Jesus after he had been seized by the Romans are similar in many details in all Four Gospels. This similarity is not necessarily a multiple attestation indication of the historicity of the details. It merely indicates that with limited resources in the tradition the other Gospels were heavily dependent on Mark's Gospel in this section. The variations from the Markan account in the other Gospels reflect the particular perspectives of each of the other Gospels.
Comments here will be limited to the first segment of the shorter reading (John 19:17-20). The Fourth Gospel provides the most complex description of the inscription on Jesus' cross. It gives the title "King of the Jews," which could be used repeatedly by the Romans, whenever they crucified a leader of the Jews, and the specific name "Jesus of Nazareth." The Fourth Gospel also states that the inscription on Jesus' cross that designated the reason for the political execution was written in the three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that it could be read and understood by everyone who would see it. The Roman oppressors wanted to advertise as broadly as possible what they were doing to this leader of the Jews and to the two Jewish guerrilla fighters whom they crucified on either side of him.
In our Good Friday messages it is important that we explain that it was Romans who crucified Jesus, the Romans who occupied Palestine during the first century and oppressed the Jews. While there were undoubtedly a few Jews who cooperated with the Roman oppressors and with them were worried that Jews who had been given hope by Jesus would rebel, most of Jesus' fellow Jews in Palestine who knew Jesus grieved when Jesus was seized by the Romans and would have tried to rescue him if they would have thought that they had any chance to be successful.
