Not the End — Good Friday
It was a long night that turned into a darker morning.
Jesus had already been awake for hours. Arrested in a garden. Betrayed by a friend.
They dragged from one trial to another while the city slowly woke up.
First, the religious leaders, then Pontius Pilate, finally, mocked by soldiers who treated the King of Heaven like a criminal. They struck Him and spit on Him. They pressed a crown of thorns into His head and wrapped Him in a robe to laugh at Him. “Hail, King of the Jews,” they said. But their sarcasm accidentally told the truth. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. Yet pressure from the crowd was louder than his conscience. And so the sentence was given: crucifixion.
Roman crucifixion was designed to be slow and humiliating. Jesus carried His cross through the streets to a hill called Golgotha. Nails were driven through His hands and feet. The cross was lifted. And there the Son of God hung between heaven and earth.
Yet, what’s astonishing is not just the suffering. It’s His words.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
The Reason He Came
In the middle of injustice, Jesus offered mercy. In the middle of pain, He offered grace.
For hours, darkness covered the land. Then Jesus cried out and breathed His last. The earth shook. The temple curtain tore in two. And a Roman centurion looked up at the cross and said, “Surely this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54)
That evening, a man named Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body and placed it in a tomb. A stone was rolled across the entrance.
It looked like the end.
But Good Friday is called good for a reason. Because what looked like defeat was actually redemption’s beginning. The Cross was not the failure of Jesus’ mission—it was the very reason He came.
And in three days, the world would see that death never had the final word.
This was not the end.
Reflection Questions for Today
1. What part of the Good Friday story stands out to you the most, and why do you think it sticks with you?
2. How does Jesus’ response to suffering and injustice challenge the way we typically react to difficult situations?
3. If the Cross represents both sacrifice and new life, what might that look like in your everyday life right now?
Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Tony D'Amico
