Isaiah 52:13-15; John 18:1-19:42.

Good Friday is one of those days when you’d think the sermon would be obvious; after all, today is the day of the cross, the anniversary to some extent of the great act of sacrificial love and witness played out by Jesus. I say “to some extent” because we don’t know the actual date of Jesus’ death, or even the year. But does it matter whether it was 25^th March 29AD, or 14^th April 33AD? It does not. Today, 18^th April 2025, a Friday, is as good a day as any to stop still and to consider the ways of God, so much as we are able to do from a human perspective.

I don’t want to speak long today; Good Friday is a good day for silence and for thought. Sunday is coming with the hope of resurrection and the hope that the resurrection of Jesus brings to us in many facets of our lives; but let’s not rush: Jesus spent six hours on the cross, we can spend an hour here, there’s no rush to Sunday.

Jesus died the death of a traitor and a blasphemer, innocent of those charges under the laws by which he was tried, and yet taking those actual crimes for us. Executed in our place.

We have blasphemed when we have not regarded God as LORD and have placed other things or ideas or people in the place of highest honour. Jesus claimed to be Messiah; according to the Jewish religious courts he was big-noting himself, placing himself where only God should be placed. We have done that, placing ourselves where only God should be placed.

We have been treasonous when we have not regarded God as king and have claimed authority for ourselves or lesser leaders than God. Jesus claimed to be a king, the king of The Kingdom of Heaven; according to the Roman courts he was denying the authority and majesty due to Caesar, and even the Judean crowds called out “we have no king but Caesar” when Pilate presented Jesus and his claim to them. We have done that; we have followed Caesar and not God in our contemporary Australian ways, we have let other people guide our behaviour and our attitudes, we have made little kings and queens of ourselves.

When the Messiah was murdered for blasphemy, and the Master of the Universe was murdered for treason, it make plain to me at least how much the world was in rebellion at that point. And not just that crowd on a Jerusalem morning, the world has been turning against God since Eden and it has not stopped even until today. The world is still in rebellion, treason and blasphemy, today. This is not news to you; you know the world and you know yourself; sometimes we fall short of the glory of God and sometimes we just shoot off in the other direction entirely.

The death of Jesus was an act of divine love. I am sure you’ve heard it many times before over many years, in sermons or devotions or preparation for communion: the death of Jesus was an act of divine love, but I want to narrow it down today to the specifics. Whatever sin Jesus took to the cross for you, whatever his death accomplished as your release, it comes down to one of two things. You chose to make yourself boss in place of God, or you chose to make yourself number one in place of God. In either or both cases the response to the cross is simple: it’s not easy, not at all, but it is not complicated in the slightest. Clear to understand, very hard to do. Let Christ be LORD.

See my servant shall prosper, says The LORD in the words of Isaiah 52:13, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. At first reading and without context that seems good, good for the servant. Prosperity, exaltation, lifting very high. Good if you are speaking about adoration and loyalty toward the servant, not so good if you’re considering his being crucified in public view. Christ prospers by dying, winning the world’s attention back to God through the example of his obedience, and winning the world’s population back from the satan, with the price of his blood.

[S]o he shall startle many nations, says The LORD through Isaiah 52:15, kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. I don’t care if you are a king, although I know that none of you here today happen to be one, but even if you were when Jesus enters the room then you, even you, the royal you, you need to shut your mouth. What had only been spoken about in prophecy amongst one small nation was made plain for all the world to see at Golgotha, and what had never been discussed shall now be the only subject on everybody’s lips and minds. So, what has The LORD done?

• Well, the LORD has come – Emmanuel.
• The LORD has walked the Earth with women and men, tabernacled with them, eaten and drank and slept and laughed – Emmauel.
• The LORD has seen, and heard, and felt, and understood that The LORD had been misunderstood, misrepresented, taken for granted, ignored, silenced, displaced and forgotten.
• The LORD has revealed Godself once more, and that revelation looks like liberating love; a new ex hodos, but not an exodus from Egypt or Persia but a way out from sin and confusion.

When even kings close their mouths we listen to God. We marvel at the new revelation of how deep the Father’s love is for us, how the love of God was satisfied at the cross. And we exalt, and we lift up, and we see that The LORD is made very high once more. And yet, as it was last Sunday so it is today, Good Friday is one of those days when you’d think the sermon would be obvious. And it is: worship him, Christ the LORD.

Amen.