no greater love
Good Friday. It doesn’t…seem very good, does it? Our Lord and Savior was betrayed, mocked, beaten, and tortured beyond recognition (see Isaiah 52:14) before they hung Him on the tree to be crucified, where He died after six excruciating hours.
Growing up, Good Friday was always a somber affair in my home; my parents encouraged me and my brothers to be quiet and read our Bibles on that day, especially between the hours of 9am and 3pm, when Jesus was hung on the cross. I remember doing so, but struggled to find deep meaning in those childhood and teenage years. Oh how things have changed.
This Good Friday, today in 2025, my day began similarly. I maintain the practice of being quiet and somber as my parents taught, because there is something very holy and a little melancholy about today. I began the day (like I usually try to) by checking the Bible app’s verse of the day, which today was John 15:13.
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“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”
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“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
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“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
I’ve been reading in The Passion Translation a lot lately. The revelations which the Lord has taught me through this deep and reflective translation have been transformative. After I read the verse of the day, I got dressed and went to a local coffee shop to study the Word.
Once on the cross, Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which translates from the original Aramaic to "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (See Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). The Jewish people would have been familiar with this phrase; Jesus said it not only because He was in despair at being separated from Father God, but was quoting Psalm 22, an incredible Messianic prophecy pointing to His true identity.
In verses 1-2, there is fear and desperation, but it is interspersed (like so many of the Psalms) with what I like to call but God phrases. Verse 2 concludes with “Where are You, my God?” and Verse 3 intercedes: “Yet I know that You are most holy. You are God-Enthroned, the praise of Israel. Our fathers’ faith was in You — through the generations they trusted You and You came through.” So even on the cross, Jesus had faith that Father God would come through in the end, that He would make all things right.
Verses 6-8 of Psalm 22 tell of Jesus' treatment at the hands of the Romans and Jewish people, beginning with the heartbreaking verse, “I’ve been despised and scorned by everyone!” It foretells how He would be mocked and despised, even as He hung on the cross for the very ones who jeered at Him (see Matthew 27:39-43). Verse 16 reads, “They have pierced my hands and my feet.” Keep in mind, this Psalm was penned by David hundreds of years before crucifixion had even been invented by the Romans. In verse 18, the dividing and casting of lots of His garments is foretold (see Luke 23:34, John 19:23-24).
The crucifixion was a torturous and barbaric death. Jesus was (and is!) the Son of God, so why did He endure this? Upon being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He told Peter that if He so desired, He could have the Heavenly Father send down 12 legions of angels - that’s over 60,000 angels - to defend Him. So why didn’t He? Why did He willingly go to the cross?
In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us that “For the joy set before Him, [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame…” In The Passion Translation, it reads, “Because His heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His, He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation….”
Did you catch that?
He did it for you. For me. We were the joy set before Him!
In The Passion Translation (TPT), Psalm 22 verse 20, reads: "Give me back my life. Save me from this violent death. Save my precious one and only from the power of these dogs!" My precious one and only refers to you. Individually, uniquely. Because before the foundations of the earth were laid, Jesus and Father God had planned that you would be here at this moment, right now, reading these words, and He would rather die than be without you. That is why Jesus came, and died.
I may not have been able to fully grasp the enormity of Good Friday in the past, and I may never be able to grasp it entirely. But I do begin to understand the matchless, fathomless, amazing, incredible love that the Father and His Son displayed for us that day.
And to steal a line from my pastor - aren’t you thankful the story didn’t end on the cross?
Between verses 21 and 22 we see the Crucifixion on one side and and the Resurrection on the other; a clear distinction the despair and sorrow of the cross, and the hope and praise for a loving and sovereign God who raised Jesus back to life, all the way up through the end of the Psalm.
At the end of verse 31, some translations read, "He has done it" - but The Passion Translation gives a remarkable end to the Psalm - Jesus' last words found in John 19:30 - "It is finished.”
When we believe in Christ's finished work on the cross, we are not only saved from sin, we are dead to it, just as He died. And we are resurrected with Him, made new creations, set free (see Romans 6)!
Good Friday is melancholy. It is somber. Perhaps it’s right to be quiet, to remember our Lord’s pain and suffering - but it’s also good to smile, to rejoice, to praise God for His truly remarkable love for you and me!
It is indeed a good Friday.
Let’s pray together.Father God, thank You for sending Your one and only begotten son to us. Jesus, thank You for leaving Your throne and becoming human, taking on the sins of every person for all time, so that we would be reconciled to God the Father; closing the chasm that sin created. Our old selves were crucified with You that day, dead, buried. Today we are new creations because of You - holy, blameless, and free from the shackles of death and sin. Help us to remember Your sacrifice today. Jesus, You said in John 15:13 that “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” and You proved Your great love for us, God, when You did exactly that and died in our place. But - Hallelujah! - in Your great glory and mercy You did not stop there, but rose, proving You are GOD. You are the Great I Am, the Alpha and Omega, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank You for all You have done, all because of Your great, great love for us. Help us to love You with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength - and to love our neighbors as You love us. All glory and honor and praise to You, O Lord. In Jesus’ mighty and matchless name, Amen.
