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Program Transcript
Good Friday—Jesus’ Humble Self-Offering
The weight of the moment is almost unbearable. A man stands in the garden, knowing that the soldiers are coming. He doesn’t run. He doesn’t resist. Instead, He steps forward. He allows Himself to be captured so that we might be free. The next day, He will stand silently as false accusations fly, willingly bearing guilt so that we might be declared innocent. He walks a road of suffering, carrying a cross meant for criminals, so that we might one day rejoice. And then, as nails pierce His hands and feet, He willingly gives Himself over to death so that we might live forever.
This is Good Friday. It is the day we remember Jesus’ humble self-offering — a profound act of love that changed everything. Jesus didn’t resist the Cross; He embraced it. He gave Himself completely, not out of weakness but out of divine love. Every step, every moment, was an intentional choice to fulfill God’s plan to save us.
On the Cross, we see the fullness of Jesus’ love. He endured pain and shame so that we could know freedom and hope. His willingness to suffer wasn’t forced upon Him; it was His choice, driven by His desire to reconcile us to God. Jesus chose to humble Himself, to bear the sins of the world, and to open the way for us to draw near to God with confidence.
Hebrews 10 reminds us of this: through Jesus’ sacrifice, a new covenant was established. His body became the curtain that opened the way into God’s presence. His blood became the cleansing that allows us to stand before God without fear or shame. This is the power of Good Friday — not just the suffering of Jesus, but the love and purpose behind it.
Good Friday also calls us to respond. Jesus’ humble self-offering invites us to approach God with confidence, to hold fast to the hope we have been given, and to encourage one another as we walk this journey of faith. It is a day to reflect on the depth of Jesus’ love and to recommit ourselves to live in the light of His sacrifice.
As we stand at the foot of the Cross today, let us remember that Jesus’ act of love was not the end of the story. It was the beginning of a New Covenant, a new relationship with God. He chose to be captured so that we might be free. He chose to be found guilty so that we might be declared innocent. He chose to suffer so that we might rejoice. And He chose to give His life so that we might live forever.
This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,”
and he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:16–25
On this Good Friday, may we remember, reflect, and respond to Jesus’ humble self-offering. His love has made a way for us to be free, to rejoice, and to live forever in the presence of God.
Program Transcript
Good Friday—Jesus’ Humble Self-Offering
The weight of the moment is almost unbearable. A man stands in the garden, knowing that the soldiers are coming. He doesn’t run. He doesn’t resist. Instead, He steps forward. He allows Himself to be captured so that we might be free. The next day, He will stand silently as false accusations fly, willingly bearing guilt so that we might be declared innocent. He walks a road of suffering, carrying a cross meant for criminals, so that we might one day rejoice. And then, as nails pierce His hands and feet, He willingly gives Himself over to death so that we might live forever.
This is Good Friday. It is the day we remember Jesus’ humble self-offering — a profound act of love that changed everything. Jesus didn’t resist the Cross; He embraced it. He gave Himself completely, not out of weakness but out of divine love. Every step, every moment, was an intentional choice to fulfill God’s plan to save us.
On the Cross, we see the fullness of Jesus’ love. He endured pain and shame so that we could know freedom and hope. His willingness to suffer wasn’t forced upon Him; it was His choice, driven by His desire to reconcile us to God. Jesus chose to humble Himself, to bear the sins of the world, and to open the way for us to draw near to God with confidence.
Hebrews 10 reminds us of this: through Jesus’ sacrifice, a new covenant was established. His body became the curtain that opened the way into God’s presence. His blood became the cleansing that allows us to stand before God without fear or shame. This is the power of Good Friday — not just the suffering of Jesus, but the love and purpose behind it.
Good Friday also calls us to respond. Jesus’ humble self-offering invites us to approach God with confidence, to hold fast to the hope we have been given, and to encourage one another as we walk this journey of faith. It is a day to reflect on the depth of Jesus’ love and to recommit ourselves to live in the light of His sacrifice.
As we stand at the foot of the Cross today, let us remember that Jesus’ act of love was not the end of the story. It was the beginning of a New Covenant, a new relationship with God. He chose to be captured so that we might be free. He chose to be found guilty so that we might be declared innocent. He chose to suffer so that we might rejoice. And He chose to give His life so that we might live forever.
This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,”
and he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:16–25
On this Good Friday, may we remember, reflect, and respond to Jesus’ humble self-offering. His love has made a way for us to be free, to rejoice, and to live forever in the presence of God.
Psalm 22:1–31 • Isaiah 52:13–53:12 • Hebrews 10:16–25 • John 18:1–19:42
Our theme for Good Friday is Jesus’ humble self–offering. The Psalm for the day, referred to by Jesus on the cross, expresses how in the beginning, the psalmist feels abandoned and forsaken, and yet in the end, he reaffirms his trust in God’s love and faithfulness. The prophet Isaiah describes Israel’s coming Messiah in terms of a servant who was willing to suffer and be rejected, like a lamb led to the slaughter. In Hebrews we see that Jesus’ blood, which cleanses us, and which was willingly shed on behalf of all, ratifies the covenant in which we find the law written on human hearts. In our Gospel reading, Jesus voluntarily offers himself to those sent to arrest him, and allows himself to be falsely accused, condemned, tortured, and crucified, even though at any moment he could have ended his suffering. He provides for the care of his mother and offers himself up in trust to his Father as he dies. His disciples bury him in a tomb.
He Read the Last Chapter
Isaiah 52:13–53:12 ESV
Preparation — this service is designed to include communion. Have five people ready to read a passage of Isaiah, in ESV, as follows: Isaiah 52:13–15
Isaiah 53:1–3
Isaiah 53:4–6
Isaiah 53:7–9
Isaiah 53:10–12
Are you one of those people who likes to read the last chapter of the book first to see how the story ends? For many of us, this would ruin a good story. But when we consider the events of Holy Week, we are blessed because we have read the end of the story — we already know what happened after the events we reflect on during the Good Friday service. This gives us hope, even though what our Lord endured to bring us that hope was excruciating and horrific.
We gather on this Good Friday to remember the ordeal of our Lord and Savior, as he was arrested, tried, and put to death by crucifixion. During this event, we watch his followers abandon him, his loved ones mourn him, and his accusers persecute, torment, and crucify him. During this whole process, Jesus was like a lamb going silently to the slaughter, allowing himself to be killed by those he came to save. At any moment, Jesus could have called on his Father for legions of angels and stopped it. But this was a significant moment of self–offering, and he was committed to completing what he had begun.
What happened to Jesus was not surprising to God. No, indeed, God had seen this occur long before any of it happened. How often had Jesus, as he was growing up, read, or heard the passage we will read today? Can you imagine what must have gone through his mind when he read these words, knowing who he was? As we go through Isaiah’s prophecy about the Suffering Servant Messiah, let’s reflect on what our Lord would go through to bring salvation and redemption to all of us.
The Messiah, who was exalted, would cleanse the nations through his suffering, and then be exalted again: [Reader 1]
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you — his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind — so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Isaiah 52:13–15 ESV
In Philippians 2:5–11, the apostle Paul tells us that the Son of God began his mission here on earth when he was exalted in the heavens in glory. As the Son of God, he was high and lifted up, but when he took on human flesh, that glory which he shared with his Father was hidden and not seen by those he met here on earth. Except those three men who saw Jesus transfigured, the people of his day had no idea of his majesty and divine nature. In their eyes he was an average, everyday human being, who walked, talked, ate, and drank just as they did. What made this man so special?
The apostle Paul reminds us that before the foundation of the world, God planned for his Son to come and to bring many sons into glory. This was always God’s desire, that we share life with him in warm, loving fellowship. For this to happen though, the Son of God had to become one of us, die for us, and rise again, bringing reconciled humanity with him as he returned to the Father. And this beautiful plan God set in motion long before we existed came with a price the Son of God chose to pay — his suffering and death. Simply because God loved us with an everlasting love and desired to share eternity with us, the Word of God took on human flesh and allowed himself to be crucified, submitting himself to the will of sinful human beings.
The humble Messiah would be rejected by humanity: [Reader 2]
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:1–3 ESV
There was no reason for any human being to value Jesus according to human ways of valuing people. In his culture, unmarried women did not give birth to babies, but his mother Mary was found to be pregnant before she ever married Joseph. And even though Joseph did marry his mother before he was born, Jesus grew up labeled as being the child of an unwed mother — a label which brought ridicule and shame upon him even as an adult. Mark included in his Gospel a the particularly derogatory question. Relating Jesus’ lineage to his mother, those in the synagogue asked, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (Mark 6:3). This was a notably disparaging remark in that culture since typically, men were identified with reference to their father’s name.
According to the social niceties of his day and the religious traditions of his faith, Jesus was always hanging around with the “wrong” people. He spent time with and ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners. He looked like an average kind of guy — nothing really stood out to make him a charismatic leader. If anything, most people in power and authority could only find fault with him. He was way too free with his behavior when it came to the traditions of his faith. And his claims of divine origin earned him the label of heretic. And when he faced the hardest, most demanding situation in his life — his arrest and his crucifixion, even his followers abandoned him and fled.
The Messiah would be rejected, tormented, and crucified: [Reader 3]
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV
If there is one thing human beings are known for, it is for stubbornly insisting upon their own way. From the beginning, humans have sought to go their own way, like sheep who refuse to stay where they belong. We can mistakenly blame God for the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, but the reality is that human beings plotted his violent death, brought it about through injustice and political maneuvering, and executed it through the lies of religious leaders and the hands of Roman soldiers. Jesus knows intimately what it means to be betrayed by a friend, tormented, afflicted, and ridiculed by those who should have esteemed him.
And the most amazing thing of all is that God allowed all of this. In that moment of greatest distress, when his human flesh could not sense his Father’s presence, Jesus cried out the first stanza of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When we look at the end of that psalm, though, we see that Jesus still had hope — for he knew his heavenly Father well. He knew that, unlike the humans who betrayed him, his Father always remains faithful. Indeed, he is our covenant God, who never breaks faith with us. United with his Father in the Spirit, we discover that Jesus was not forsaken, but “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19 NASB). Even though, for a time, Jesus experienced the full weight of human sin and its consequences, the Father was not going to allow him to remain in this place of suffering and grief forever.
The innocent, humble Messiah would be silent in the face of injustice: [Reader 4]
he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:7–9 ESV
As the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, Jesus did not respond as any other human being might have responded in this time of suffering and death. Indeed, when we consider who Jesus is, fully God and fully human, we stand in awe and wonder at his ability to undergo such suffering without responding or retaliating or even rescuing himself. Indeed, it is remarkable that Jesus remained on the cross, in spite of having the immeasurable, unlimited powers of heaven at his disposal. He did not think of himself at all in that moment of suffering and death — he only thought of you, me, and every other person that ever lived and died. What he was doing in that moment was for the sake of others, not for his own sake as a human being.
And those who crucified him, and even most of those who sorrowfully gazed upon him as he hung on the cross, had no idea what was going on. He had tried to tell his disciples, and others, to warn them of what was going to happen. He tried to explain why it had to happen and how it would all end. But the truth was simply too much. And their vision was obscured by aspirations of a human kingdom that would overthrow the Roman government and bring about a relief of their immediate human suffering. Hidden within that human being hanging on the cross was the Son of God who came to rescue human beings from evil, sin, and death — and they had no idea what he was doing. Even as Joseph laid the dead Jesus in his own rich man’s tomb, they still had no grasp of the significance of what was occurring. But it did not matter — God was still going to finish what he had begun. Jesus Christ died, but that was not the end.
The Messiah would die but not in vain: [Reader 5]
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:10–12 ESV
Jesus, the Messiah, was laid in a tomb, having given his life for the sake of all humans who have ever lived, live today, or will live. He took upon himself all that humans could pour out in wrath, anger, hate, and abuse. He allowed himself to be tortured and crucified, without attempting to free himself in any way. He successfully accomplished the task he was sent to fulfill — to live our life and die our death so that we could be freed from evil, sin, and death.
Jesus made human beings right with God, forging within our human flesh the capacity to live in right relationship with God and one another. Jesus took our human face and turned it back to our Father, and turned our will back into obedience to God’s will and his ways. Because of all that Jesus did, God reconciled humanity to himself — and now we are all being called to be reconciled with God through repentance and faith. On Resurrection Sunday, we will celebrate the resurrection, when Jesus rose from the dead. The good news is that God in the Messiah finished what he began, for Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man is Lord of all, and in him, all were included in right relationship with God in the Spirit.
As we began our message today, we saw how Jesus knew the end of the story before he began. When you look at the story of your life, consider the reality that God knows both its beginning and its end. And God knows everything about you, and all that you are going through right now. If you are struggling with difficulties or hardships or grief — Jesus understands what that is like and is even going through those things with you right now in the Spirit. There is nothing that he cannot share with you, for he has united himself with you in his life here on earth, his suffering, and his death.
Are there things in your life you are ashamed of or are embarrassed about? Are there things you have struggled with your whole life but never seem to get under control? Jesus understands our human frame and what it is like to be shamed and embarrassed by others. These human experiences we go through, he understands and has experienced. He was tempted in all the ways we are tempted, but without sin. This is the beauty of what Jesus offers us — his real presence in us and with us by his Spirit in a way that is a true sharing in our life, suffering, and pain. He offers us his strength, his wisdom, his faith, and all that we need for life and godliness. This is such comfort for us!
As we reflect on all that Jesus Christ offers us, you are invited to the table of thanksgiving, to take of the bread and the wine together as the community of faith.
Distribute the communion elements according to your plan. While everyone is holding their elements at their seats, introduce a time of prayer about letting go and picking up one’s cross. Spend a few moments in silence. Then close in prayer, and invite everyone to eat the bread, and then drink the wine, together.
Consider for a moment all that Jesus has done for you and what it cost him to do it. Jesus told his disciples that if we are to follow him, we are to lay down our lives and pick up our own particular cross, whatever it might be. In the light of all of this, what are you willing to let go of so that you can follow Jesus more closely? What specific cross has Jesus asked you to carry? Let us pause for a moment in silent prayer while you commit yourself to letting go of what he is asking you to let go of and picking up the cross he has asked you to carry.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 2 Cor. 13:14 NASB
Amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- Why is it important to realize that God knows the end from the beginning when it comes to our lives? Since God allows us real freedom in making our choices, what is the benefit of knowing that Jesus has done all that is needed for our salvation and redemption?
- How does knowing that Jesus experienced a real human existence help us when we are struggling or grieving or having a difficult time? What about when we are happy and enjoying life?
- What are some ways in which we have been blind to Jesus’ real personhood as God in human flesh? What difference does this make in our relationship with Jesus or each other?
