Sermon Illustrations for Good Friday (2024)
Illustration
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Nothing is more compelling and compassionate than a willing sacrifice. I came across the true story of Gladys Kidd and her husband, Robert Lee Kidd. Robert Lee Kidd was convicted of first-degree murder in San Fransico on October 18, 1962. Kidd had been represented by an inexperienced public defender who mismanaged the case. He spent a year on death row in San Quentin, before the verdict was reversed by the California State Supreme Court and a new trial ordered.
Gladys Kidd, who was convinced of her husband’s innocence, placed a newspaper advertisement that made headlines. In the ad, Mrs. Kidd offered ten years of service as a cook and maid, free of charge, to any leading attorney who would take on her husband’s case for his trial. Attorney Vincent Hallinan, whose firm had been involved with Kidd’s appeal but had been too busy to take him on as a client for his retrial, saw the ad. Hallinan responded to her ad in writing: “No woman has to sell herself to get justice. We will defend your husband and ask no fee.”
Gladys Kidd was willing to offer the best she had to set her husband free. Attorney Hallinan was moved by that gesture. He made sure she didn’t have to make that sacrifice. Reading Isaiah 52 and 53, we see another sacrifice. The suffering servant, the Lamb of God. He was led to slaughter. By a perversion of justice, he was taken away. He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, give all he had, to set humanity free. For him, unlike Gladys Kidd, there would be no reprieve. It was “the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction” and “make his life an offering for sin” (vs. 10).
Martin Luther once wrote, “Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” How will you choose?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
I want to be very careful not to give anyone licenses to skip the deep and sorrowful depths of Good Friday by taking a pass and jumping ahead to Easter. However, in this passage from the suffering servant portions of Isaiah, legitimately interpreted by us in the light of the passion of Christ, the prophet not only notes that the servant “…gave my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.” (Isaiah 53:6) but is able to say “I know that I shall not be put to shame (53:7) even though he has endured shameful things, adding “…he who vindicates me is near.: (53:8) These affirmations that one’s personal sufferings will end in vindication and victory do not take away from his sufferings, our suffering, and Christ’s suffering. But it’s a reminder to us, in the midst of great struggle, that it ain’t over till it’s over. Suffering is real. So is resurrection.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 53:13--53:12
Good Friday reminds us of our sin — all the wars, economic hardships, and inability to be civil to one another. This Good Friday word is not something we want to hear. Martin Luther nicely explained our hesitancy about hearing this word, as in one of his lectures on this text he claimed:
Our nature is opposed to the function and power of Christ’s Passion... We must clearly transfer our sins from ourselves to Christ... Hence you must say: “I see my sin in Christ, therefore my sin is not mine but another’s. I see it in Christ. (Luther’s Works, Vol.17, p.223)
Good Friday is about your and my sin becoming Christ’s problem. And he has taken care of the problem. In a sermon the first reformer put it another way as he proclaimed:
But Christ takes our place and innocently endures death, terror and hell, so that through him and on him we escape all this. Through his undeserved and innocent death, he saves us from the rightful death which we deserved, that is, from the sins whereby we merited death and hell. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, pp.402-403)
This wonderful insight can’t help but change you. Turn of the twentieth century Christian businessman and Pentecostal missionary John G. Lake profoundly described what Good Friday does to us. He observed that “the wonder is that Jesus purposed to make your heart and mine just as sweet and lovely and pure and holy as his own.”
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 10:16-25
The author of Hebrews recounts the words we find in Jeremiah about the law being written on our hearts. It is good to remember on this day when we commemorate the death of Jesus, that God forgives, that we still have hope in the Lord. As we move into the darkness of the remembrance of Jesus’ arrest and death, we need the anchor of hope that God is with us, that we are called to righteousness and even when we fail, God is still present offering care and reconciliation. “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” Our faithfulness is the root of our redemption. Our faithfulness, even when we waver, is seen by God. Our hope rests in God, now and always.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Hebrews 10:15-25
John Calvin described Christ as the fountain of all holiness and righteousness (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXII/1, p.236). He then proceeded to use this insight to describe what the lesson intends in verse 23 in calling us to hold fast to this faith. He wrote:
For we hence first learn, that our faith rests on this foundation, that God is true, that is, true to his promise, which his word contains; for that we believe, the voice or word of God must precede... for except God promises, no one can believe. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXII/1, p.238)
With this insight and at the foot of the cross on Good Friday we experience an awesome, incomprehensible, life-changing love. Martin Luther put it this way one time:
Our heart is much too limited to be able to grasp the scope of this great blessing. For such is its magnitude that if anyone were able to comprehend it... if we have a full understanding of this love of God for men, a joy so great would come to us from this recognition that we would promptly die because of it. From this we see how great our feebleness is, how great our torpor, since few taste, I do not say, this ocean, but scarcely a few drops of this immense joy. (What Luther Says, p.821)
Mark E.
* * *
John 18:1-19:42
The walk to the cross challenges us all. I remember when I visited Israel, walking the way of the cross. We walked through the marketplace, the busyness of human life, the noise of people transacting business. It wasn’t a quiet and reverent walk. It was a walk through the commotion of human life. Jesus entered our human life, experienced ou r human life, and as I walked that path, I reflected on what must have been going through the mind of Jesus. Did Jesus look with love on the people betraying him? Did Jesus look at the crowd with pity and mercy?
The coming to the place of the cross, the surrender to death, this breaks my heart each time I read this passage of scripture, each time I think of the sacrifice of my God. Having walked the path, having seen the place where Jesus was ridiculed, having remembered on that walk the torture and abuse Jesus endured, I am humbled to be a beloved of God, to be a forgiven of God, to know the mercy and reconciliation of God, today especially, but in all days.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 18:1--19:42
Evangelist Billy Sunday often shared this anecdote. There is a legend that grew up around the time of the Civil War. In the early 1860’s there were many battles along the Kansas/Missouri border. Quantrell’s Raiders were a band of men from Missouri that would sweep down upon an unsuspecting community on the frontier to rob, pillage, burn, and then ride away before help could come. Kansans feared Quantrell’s raiders and organized men to search for them. They had orders to execute without delay any of the raiders that could be found. Not long afterward, a group of these men was captured in Iowa. A trench was dug, and the men were lined up. The firing squad was forming. Suddenly a young man rushed out of the bushes, crying out, “Wait! Wait!” He approached the officer in command, and pointed to a man who was waiting to be shot, and said, “Let that man go free. He has a wife and babies and is needed at home. Let me take his place. I am guilty.” It was an extraordinary appeal, but the stranger insisted. After a long consultation, the officers decided to grant the request. They cut the ropes and released the condemned man. The volunteer was put in his place and fell dead before the firing squad.
Later the redeemed man came back to the awful scene of death, uncovered the grave, and found the body of his friend. He put it on the back of a mule and took it to a little cemetery near Kansas City, where he was given a proper burial. At the time, he marked the grave with a rude wooden slab. Later, however, the grateful man erected a marble monument inscribed with the words: “Sacred to the Memory of Willie Lee. He took my place in the line. He died for me.”
I could not verify if this story is true, however there is one like it that is definite. “He took my place in the line. He died for me.” That is what Jesus Christ did for six hours on a Friday a long time ago. He took my place in the line, and he took yours. He died for you and me. In the words of the African American spiritual, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble.” Let’s remember the incredible sacrifice of one who loved us and gave his life for us. He died so we might live.
Bill T.
* * *
John 18:1--19:42
There’s that old hymn: “All hail the power of Jesus’ name, let angels prostrate fall….” Here we see the angels fall face down because of the holy name of Jesus. And we see the same thing happen during his arrest because — of the power of Jesus’ name.
John’s Gospel presents the clearest picture of a divine Jesus among the four evangelists. And in John 8:58, Jesus angers his listeners when he says simply, “…before Abraham was, I AM.” The Greek ego eimi, can be translated as “I AM. This is reminiscent of Exodus 3:14 God self-identifies as “I AM WHO I AM” and then clarifies the matter by adding :Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you,”
Let’s return to the scene of our Lord’s arrest. In the garden the contingent of soldiers, some perhaps Roman, some irregulars from the temple, are questioned by Jesus, who turns the tables on them and becomes the inquisitor. He asks who they are looking for, and they reply, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus replies, not “I am he,” as it is usually translated, but “I AM.” When he says this those who came to arrest him “stepped back and fell to the ground.” (18:5,6) And when Jesus repeats his self-identification, “I told you that I AM ,” they do as he commanded, and let those who are with him go. Only Jesus is arrested, because that it is his will, not the will of the arresting party, who were probably told to round up everyone associated with Jesus.
Remember that as we read further. Nothing happens outside of the will of God, because when the arresting party comes, they collapse. They all fall down., when Jesus commands this thanks to the health or lack of it.
Frank R.
Nothing is more compelling and compassionate than a willing sacrifice. I came across the true story of Gladys Kidd and her husband, Robert Lee Kidd. Robert Lee Kidd was convicted of first-degree murder in San Fransico on October 18, 1962. Kidd had been represented by an inexperienced public defender who mismanaged the case. He spent a year on death row in San Quentin, before the verdict was reversed by the California State Supreme Court and a new trial ordered.
Gladys Kidd, who was convinced of her husband’s innocence, placed a newspaper advertisement that made headlines. In the ad, Mrs. Kidd offered ten years of service as a cook and maid, free of charge, to any leading attorney who would take on her husband’s case for his trial. Attorney Vincent Hallinan, whose firm had been involved with Kidd’s appeal but had been too busy to take him on as a client for his retrial, saw the ad. Hallinan responded to her ad in writing: “No woman has to sell herself to get justice. We will defend your husband and ask no fee.”
Gladys Kidd was willing to offer the best she had to set her husband free. Attorney Hallinan was moved by that gesture. He made sure she didn’t have to make that sacrifice. Reading Isaiah 52 and 53, we see another sacrifice. The suffering servant, the Lamb of God. He was led to slaughter. By a perversion of justice, he was taken away. He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, give all he had, to set humanity free. For him, unlike Gladys Kidd, there would be no reprieve. It was “the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction” and “make his life an offering for sin” (vs. 10).
Martin Luther once wrote, “Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” How will you choose?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
I want to be very careful not to give anyone licenses to skip the deep and sorrowful depths of Good Friday by taking a pass and jumping ahead to Easter. However, in this passage from the suffering servant portions of Isaiah, legitimately interpreted by us in the light of the passion of Christ, the prophet not only notes that the servant “…gave my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.” (Isaiah 53:6) but is able to say “I know that I shall not be put to shame (53:7) even though he has endured shameful things, adding “…he who vindicates me is near.: (53:8) These affirmations that one’s personal sufferings will end in vindication and victory do not take away from his sufferings, our suffering, and Christ’s suffering. But it’s a reminder to us, in the midst of great struggle, that it ain’t over till it’s over. Suffering is real. So is resurrection.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 53:13--53:12
Good Friday reminds us of our sin — all the wars, economic hardships, and inability to be civil to one another. This Good Friday word is not something we want to hear. Martin Luther nicely explained our hesitancy about hearing this word, as in one of his lectures on this text he claimed:
Our nature is opposed to the function and power of Christ’s Passion... We must clearly transfer our sins from ourselves to Christ... Hence you must say: “I see my sin in Christ, therefore my sin is not mine but another’s. I see it in Christ. (Luther’s Works, Vol.17, p.223)
Good Friday is about your and my sin becoming Christ’s problem. And he has taken care of the problem. In a sermon the first reformer put it another way as he proclaimed:
But Christ takes our place and innocently endures death, terror and hell, so that through him and on him we escape all this. Through his undeserved and innocent death, he saves us from the rightful death which we deserved, that is, from the sins whereby we merited death and hell. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, pp.402-403)
This wonderful insight can’t help but change you. Turn of the twentieth century Christian businessman and Pentecostal missionary John G. Lake profoundly described what Good Friday does to us. He observed that “the wonder is that Jesus purposed to make your heart and mine just as sweet and lovely and pure and holy as his own.”
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 10:16-25
The author of Hebrews recounts the words we find in Jeremiah about the law being written on our hearts. It is good to remember on this day when we commemorate the death of Jesus, that God forgives, that we still have hope in the Lord. As we move into the darkness of the remembrance of Jesus’ arrest and death, we need the anchor of hope that God is with us, that we are called to righteousness and even when we fail, God is still present offering care and reconciliation. “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” Our faithfulness is the root of our redemption. Our faithfulness, even when we waver, is seen by God. Our hope rests in God, now and always.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Hebrews 10:15-25
John Calvin described Christ as the fountain of all holiness and righteousness (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXII/1, p.236). He then proceeded to use this insight to describe what the lesson intends in verse 23 in calling us to hold fast to this faith. He wrote:
For we hence first learn, that our faith rests on this foundation, that God is true, that is, true to his promise, which his word contains; for that we believe, the voice or word of God must precede... for except God promises, no one can believe. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXII/1, p.238)
With this insight and at the foot of the cross on Good Friday we experience an awesome, incomprehensible, life-changing love. Martin Luther put it this way one time:
Our heart is much too limited to be able to grasp the scope of this great blessing. For such is its magnitude that if anyone were able to comprehend it... if we have a full understanding of this love of God for men, a joy so great would come to us from this recognition that we would promptly die because of it. From this we see how great our feebleness is, how great our torpor, since few taste, I do not say, this ocean, but scarcely a few drops of this immense joy. (What Luther Says, p.821)
Mark E.
* * *
John 18:1-19:42
The walk to the cross challenges us all. I remember when I visited Israel, walking the way of the cross. We walked through the marketplace, the busyness of human life, the noise of people transacting business. It wasn’t a quiet and reverent walk. It was a walk through the commotion of human life. Jesus entered our human life, experienced ou r human life, and as I walked that path, I reflected on what must have been going through the mind of Jesus. Did Jesus look with love on the people betraying him? Did Jesus look at the crowd with pity and mercy?
The coming to the place of the cross, the surrender to death, this breaks my heart each time I read this passage of scripture, each time I think of the sacrifice of my God. Having walked the path, having seen the place where Jesus was ridiculed, having remembered on that walk the torture and abuse Jesus endured, I am humbled to be a beloved of God, to be a forgiven of God, to know the mercy and reconciliation of God, today especially, but in all days.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 18:1--19:42
Evangelist Billy Sunday often shared this anecdote. There is a legend that grew up around the time of the Civil War. In the early 1860’s there were many battles along the Kansas/Missouri border. Quantrell’s Raiders were a band of men from Missouri that would sweep down upon an unsuspecting community on the frontier to rob, pillage, burn, and then ride away before help could come. Kansans feared Quantrell’s raiders and organized men to search for them. They had orders to execute without delay any of the raiders that could be found. Not long afterward, a group of these men was captured in Iowa. A trench was dug, and the men were lined up. The firing squad was forming. Suddenly a young man rushed out of the bushes, crying out, “Wait! Wait!” He approached the officer in command, and pointed to a man who was waiting to be shot, and said, “Let that man go free. He has a wife and babies and is needed at home. Let me take his place. I am guilty.” It was an extraordinary appeal, but the stranger insisted. After a long consultation, the officers decided to grant the request. They cut the ropes and released the condemned man. The volunteer was put in his place and fell dead before the firing squad.
Later the redeemed man came back to the awful scene of death, uncovered the grave, and found the body of his friend. He put it on the back of a mule and took it to a little cemetery near Kansas City, where he was given a proper burial. At the time, he marked the grave with a rude wooden slab. Later, however, the grateful man erected a marble monument inscribed with the words: “Sacred to the Memory of Willie Lee. He took my place in the line. He died for me.”
I could not verify if this story is true, however there is one like it that is definite. “He took my place in the line. He died for me.” That is what Jesus Christ did for six hours on a Friday a long time ago. He took my place in the line, and he took yours. He died for you and me. In the words of the African American spiritual, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble.” Let’s remember the incredible sacrifice of one who loved us and gave his life for us. He died so we might live.
Bill T.
* * *
John 18:1--19:42
There’s that old hymn: “All hail the power of Jesus’ name, let angels prostrate fall….” Here we see the angels fall face down because of the holy name of Jesus. And we see the same thing happen during his arrest because — of the power of Jesus’ name.
John’s Gospel presents the clearest picture of a divine Jesus among the four evangelists. And in John 8:58, Jesus angers his listeners when he says simply, “…before Abraham was, I AM.” The Greek ego eimi, can be translated as “I AM. This is reminiscent of Exodus 3:14 God self-identifies as “I AM WHO I AM” and then clarifies the matter by adding :Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you,”
Let’s return to the scene of our Lord’s arrest. In the garden the contingent of soldiers, some perhaps Roman, some irregulars from the temple, are questioned by Jesus, who turns the tables on them and becomes the inquisitor. He asks who they are looking for, and they reply, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus replies, not “I am he,” as it is usually translated, but “I AM.” When he says this those who came to arrest him “stepped back and fell to the ground.” (18:5,6) And when Jesus repeats his self-identification, “I told you that I AM ,” they do as he commanded, and let those who are with him go. Only Jesus is arrested, because that it is his will, not the will of the arresting party, who were probably told to round up everyone associated with Jesus.
Remember that as we read further. Nothing happens outside of the will of God, because when the arresting party comes, they collapse. They all fall down., when Jesus commands this thanks to the health or lack of it.
Frank R.
