Good Friday

Text – Seven Last Words of Jesus

“The Old Rugged Cross of Wood”

The physical elements of the bread and the wine in Holy Communion or the water of Holy Baptism often reinforce and verify how real the saving Good News of Jesus is.  Well, today, on Good Friday, we confront, with almost blunt force, the actual bloody instrument on which the Lord Jesus died — the wood of His cross.  This is the next promised treasure for us to share today.  The altar is stripped, the paraments are taken down, the wood is exposed!  Everything is a simple and dark reminder that God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, has died on the altar of the cross.

What better reminder of His death for you is there today than to meditate on the cross usually displayed on the altar in the center, and as you came in there is that huge cross above the entry doors.  This one image reveals the Father’s heartfelt love for the world.  He did not spare His Son, His only Son, your substitute!  Even Abraham did not have to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, since God provided a ram in the thicket to be sacrificed instead.  But two thousand years ago, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” lovingly died in your place.

Wood has its own biblical history.  In fact, wood is often used to “rescue,” “sweeten,” and “raise up” in the Bible.  In Genesis, God placed two large bits of wood in the Garden of Eden — the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — to test Adam and Eve.  Noah later used gopher wood to build the ark that buoyed his family above the waters that drowned the entire world of unrepentant sinners.  After Moses led Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea, he threw a piece of wood into the bitter waters of Marah to sweeten them for Israel to drink.  Much later, in the time of the kings of Israel, the prophet Elisha cut a wooden stick and threw it into the Jordan River to raise up an iron axe head, which had mistakenly been flung into the river by one of the prophets who was cutting down a tree.

While none of these “wood” stories directly point to the cross upon which Jesus died, they indirectly reveal beautiful images of what the cross does to save you.  The early Church Fathers often excelled at drawing such interesting analogies.  They used a simple Bible story in a picturesque and imaginative way to connect it to the whole story of salvation.

Think again on the story of Noah and the flood.  Why did God tell Noah to build an ark out of wood?  God could have chosen another way other than a flood to destroy the world and save Noah and his family by other miraculous means, but He didn’t.  Instead, God chose a wooden boat to keep Noah, his family, and all the selected animals safe.  God used wood to rescue them and enable them to float above the destructive waters.

What troubles flood your mind this Good Friday?  Are you so overwhelmed with trouble from so many different things that you feel like you’re drowning?  Is it family fractures, relational misunderstandings, frustrations at work, or having no work?  Does worldly turmoil stir your mind and deprive you of sleep?  Does it appear that Satan has been loosed in a final effort to claim the sons of men for his dark and miserable kingdom stealing them away from the Kingdom of God?  Amid such troubled waters, the wood of Christ’s cross promises to keep you afloat, rescuing you and carrying you through all the trials of life.  Jesus was willingly flooded with the weight and guilt of this world’s sin when He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Yet by this, He, the righteous and sinless Son, conquered sin, death, and hell for the unrighteous. 

Why did God tell Moses to throw a piece of wood in the bitter waters at Marah?  To sweeten it so that the Israelites could drink it and live!  Have you ever tasted bad water, like strong iron-flavored well water or dirty water?  You almost choke on it and can’t get it down!  Well, God could have told Moses to throw anything into that water, even a rock.  But no, God told Moses to throw a particular piece of wood into the bitter waters to make them drinkable and sweet.

Are there some bitter pills to swallow in your life?  Do feelings of bitterness linger in your heart or soul against some people?  Are you justly upset because you were wronged or betrayed?  Even amid your bitterness and restlessness, God comes to sweeten and gladden your waters of life, so like an unclenched fist, you may open your hand again to others.  Joseph forgave his brothers, who betrayed him and sold him into slavery, and Jesus bore all betrayal and bitterness from Judas, Peter, and all His disciples who deserted Him.  Similarly, this cross of Christ can sweeten bitterness and soften anger.  Jesus was betrayed, and His naked body was nailed to the cursed tree so that sin and the bitterness and anger it breeds might be gone forever.

Finally, consider Elisha and how God floated a heavy, iron axe head with a lighter piece of wood.  Why didn’t Elisha speak or wave his hand over it?  He could have parted the Jordan River with his cloak and picked it up.  Instead, by throwing in the piece of wood, he raised up the weighted iron.  That does not normally happen.  But once again God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts higher than ours, and with God nothing shall be impossible.

When did you last see a chunk of iron float?  It doesn’t, but the cross of Jesus uplifts you even as Jesus promised it would lift Him up and draw the world to Him.  Jesus lightens your load.  He takes all your guilt, personal shame, worries, troubles, and sin and it is nailed to Him.  “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”  Although millions of things might be weighing you down right now — financial worries, marriage problems, parenting difficulties and disappointments, sibling or friend conflicts, or cancer or chronic illness — God knows about them and still He cares for each of us.

Every day brings new burdens to test you and to weigh you down like a heavy iron axe head.  But Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  Your bloody Savior, Jesus Christ, invites you to cast every weight on Him so that by His cross, you are lightened, lifted up, and sustained by His forgiving grace.

Some other bits of wood mentioned in the Old Testament holding saving significance include the Ark of the Covenant made of acacia wood which was associated with the mercy seat, and the day of atonement, and was sometimes carried before Israel into battle.  The sprouted staff of Moses was used to perform the mighty miracles of the Exodus and at the Red Sea.  The bronze serpent was lifted up on a pole so that the whole camp could look on it and be saved from the venomous snakes in the wilderness.

How ironic that we would wear an instrument of torture as a piece of jewelry and do so proudly and regularly.  How many would similarly wear a hangman’s noose or a miniature electric chair in just such a manner.  Then again, neither of those were ever used by God as an instrument of salvation. 

There were Christian churches, only a few years ago, that were removing their crosses from their sanctuaries and making Good Friday worship more “kid-friendly” by removing all the death talk for fear of being offensive or morbid. But as the Scriptures note, “apart from blood there is no life!” “Apart from blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”  Instead, there is hope connected, by God’s Word, to the old rugged cross and the Lamb of God who hanged on that tree, who bled, suffered, and died, as we confess in the Creed, to pay the required ransom and set us free.

May Christ’s cross always rescue, sweeten, and lighten your life.  As you behold the rugged and blood-stainedcross, may it always remind you of the incredible love of Jesus!  He gives you eternal life now.  You are His forever because He shed His blood for you!  That’s why, my friends, today is Good Friday! 

Amen.