04/03/2026
Dear Friends - on this solemn day, I share with you a reflection written by Stated Clerk, David Yandle. This was written in 2020 during the pandemic when the elders of David's congregation were asked to share thoughts with the congregation, since there were no in-person meetings.
Blessings and Peace,
Reverend Rebecca Drafts Albright
General Presbyter, Pastor to Pastors
Charleston Atlantic Presbytery
The Irony of Good Friday
Today’s central character was betrayed by a close confidant, arrested on fabricated charges, abandoned by most of his closest friends, convicted in a sham trial by a judge who acknowledged he had no evidence to support the charge, whipped, and then marched outside the city to be nailed to a cross. Few would consider anything in that progression of events to have been good.
Crucifixion was a humiliating, public demonstration of the punishment awaiting anyone who dared to challenge the authority of Rome. The cross often was constructed with a saddle or stirrup to support the condemned man’s weight, as he suffered sometimes for days before dying of exposure, suffocation, or sepsis from wounds inflicted for the entertainment of the executioners. It is little wonder that the words “crucifixion” and “excruciating” derive from the same Latin root word. As Jesus hung on that cross, he bore no sin of his own, but bore the terrible weight of the sins of all humanity.
For the disciples, nothing of Thursday or Friday could have been good. In five short days, they had seen church leaders turn adoring crowds into a lynch mob. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James and John slept while they should have been standing watch for their leader. On Friday, they saw Jesus mocked, debased and crucified. They saw their three year journey with him come to an ignominious end.
The hymn writer, Johann Heermann, penned these words in “Ah Holy Jesus,” which exemplify the disciples’ sadness and bitter disappointment in themselves:
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon You?
It was my treason, Lord, that has undone You!
Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied You;
I crucified You.
Today, Christians across the world focus on the crucifix – the symbol of Jesus’ suffering. It is the embodiment of the excruciating suffering which Jesus endured for our sins. In fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5).
So, where is the good in Good Friday? For the disciples, it was the end of their journey as members of the supporting cast and was the final preparation for their transformation into leading actors in spreading the Gospel. For Presbyterians, the goodness is that, while we see the crucifix today, we focus daily on the empty cross, emblematic of the Resurrection. Without Good Friday, there could have been no Easter morning!
The last two verses of Johann Heermann’s hymn describe our sadness at Good Friday with our appreciation of Jesus’ sacrifice:
For me, dear Jesus, was Your incarnation,
Your mortal sorrow, and Your life’s oblation;
Your death of anguish and your bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, dear Jesus, since I cannot pay You,
I do adore You, and will ever pray You,
Think on Your pity and Your love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
When this was written in 2020, it was a Good Friday unique in our memory. We faced the threat of the Coronavirus, the isolation of social distancing, and the fear of the unknown. Then, as today, we could look to Jesus, who in his last hours, continued to teach us how to deal with adversity.
Jesus prayed for the soldiers physically responsible for nailing him to the cross: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23: 33-34). “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Son, behold thy mother.’” (John 19:26-27). Even in our adversity, we must remember to pray and care for family, friends, and the least of our brethren.
As Jesus neared death, he prayed in a loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46). That portion of Psalm 31:5 was an evening prayer Jesus would have used since childhood, as familiar to him as “Now I lay me down to sleep,” is to many of us. As we face the challenges ahead, we need to rely on the faith taught to us as children that through all adversity we will remain in God’s loving care.
As excruciating as that day was, it was a Good Friday.
(Donald G. Miller, The Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 18, The Gospel According to Luke, p.166. John Knox Press, 1960.)
