Dear Christian friends:

Today is called "Good Friday". But what happened 2,000 years ago does not seem good. An innocent man is falsely condemned and crucified and a guilty man goes free. Men mock, and spit and jeer against a good man. What happened does not seem good but terrible. But nevertheless this Friday on which Jesus died is a good day. Our text tells us why it is a good day. It says:


Let me show you what that meant for Jesus and also what that means for us. This means that our sin became His sin. Jesus the eternal Son of God who was perfect, holy, and almighty had to become a weak human being like us with limited strength and time. He had to suffer the troubles and sorrows and poverty of this sin-cursed world with us.

One day He said: "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)

Not only did He suffer the troubles of this world with us, but He suffered God's terrible wrath against our sin without us. He suffered as the damned in hell all alone, without us. That's why He cries on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) "Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help." (Psalm 22:11)

The Jews thought God was punishing Him because of His own sins. They told Pontius Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." (John 19:7)

On the cross they blamed Jesus. "Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’" (Matthew 27:41-43)

The Jews were right about God punishing Jesus. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." (Isaiah 53:10)

But God did not punish Him for making Himself the Son of God as the Jews thought. That was not the reason. But He was punished because of the Jew's sins and our sins. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) And in Isaiah 53:4, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows."

The Jews misunderstood and ignorantly and blindly thought God smote Him for His own sins. God didn't punish Jesus because of His own sins, but because of our sins. God made His soul an offering for sin. (Isaiah 53:10) Your sin, my sin. Sometimes we are ignorant and misunderstand like the Jews and think: "Not my fault Jesus got crucified. That's His trouble, His problem. I had nothing to do with that. That happened almost 2,000 years ago. I was not yet born. How could I be joined with that crucifixion?" But we are joined with that.

It was not Jesus' sin or blame, but our sin and our blame. So all our fears, guilt and shame and God's wrath against us, Jesus suffered that. It meant hell for Him. All yet it also meant glory for Him. Paul says, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)

And in Isaiah 53:12, God says, "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

So that Friday 2,000 years ago was a good Friday for Jesus, too. He suffered terribly and fought a great battle and won glory and honor for Himself. It is also a good Friday for us because He won salvation and glory for us, too!

God put our sin on Him and then took Jesus' righteousness and put that on us. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

All of Jesus' good things now become our good things. His righteousness now is our righteousness, His resurrection is now our resurrection; His new, glorious body is now our glorious body. With Him we ascend into heaven and with Him we sit down at God's right hand and rule. All our sin, shame and death God put on Him and He suffered that on the cross, that all His righteousness, holiness, glory, beauty, and riches may now be ours on earth and in heaven forever.

So Jesus says to us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." (John 14:1) "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2)

This Friday in 1960 may not seem like a good Good Friday to you. You may be sick and dying. A near and dear one may have died and left your home empty. Or you may have money problems and can't pay your income tax or have troubles in your married life. You may say this is not a good Friday for me, I have so many troubles and problems. But nevertheless Jesus says, "It is a good Friday, let not your heart be troubled." He knows you have troubles on the outside and must suffer and die. That is why He says, "Let not your heart be troubled." (John 14:1)

Be happy and peaceful in your heart, even while troubles and death trouble you. God loves you and forgives you your sin. I have died for you. Jesus says, "Don't be afraid; just believe." (Mark 5:36)

Amen.