Good Friday Service-With Readings

Good Friday Service

Luke 23:26-49 Mark 15:16-41

Candle Lighting

Opening Prayer

Here I Am To Worship (Song)

NARRATOR (One)

So here we are today to worship. Today we join in with our brothers and sisters around the world to remember to remember what may have been the darkest hour in human history. It certainly was the darkest afternoon because the word of God tells us that darkness covered the land from noon until three in the afternoon. The epicenter of the darkness was at the cross of Jesus Christ. Out of that darkness would come the light of the world.

Who could have imagined the great wrath that was poured out from the hand of God as Jesus Christ cried out, “My God, My God Why Have You Forsake Me?” Who could have imagined the great love that was shown for us, when Jesus begged on our behalf, “Father forgive them for they know now what they know not what they do?”

Who could have imagined a triumphant ending, to this malicious and cruel execution, as Jesus said with victory roaring from his dry parched throat and swollen lips, “It is finished, Into thy hands I commit my Spirit?”

Yes, it is because of those words that followers of Christ from Ukraine to Uganda, from Peru to Pakistan, from China to Chile, from Canada to Cameroon, from Korea to Kenya, and from America to Australia that we gather to remember good Friday. For in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. The events of Good Friday have made us all one in Christ Jesus. We are all invited to come to the foot of the cross.

We will share in the experiences of three of those who were there at the cross so that we might be reminded of what Jesus did on our behalf. There was the Roman Soldier who took part in the crucifixion, there was Mary Magdalene a follower of Jesus, and let me introduce to you, the woman who witnessed Lazarus’s resurrection from the dead and was simply passing by when she saw the crucifixion taking place.

Actor 1 Woman Passing By

I was there. It was just a week or so ago. I was there when Jesus said, “Lazarus come forth.” You had to have been there to believe it. I was so scared when Lazarus spoke for the first time after coming out of that tomb. Some people took off running the moment he came out.

A dead man actually came to life all because Jesus called out his name. I knew then and there that Jesus had to be the Son of God. He wasn’t the least bit afraid of Lazarus. I don’t know if I could have sat there and talked with a dead man like I saw Jesus doing talking to Lazarus.

I couldn’t wait to get home and tell others what I had seen. Some of the people didn’t believe me, but that didn’t bother me. Some of them wanted me to tell the story over and over again trying to relive the moment through me. It was nice being a celebrity for the moment. People were saying when I walked down the street, “there’s the woman that was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and saw it all.” I smiled as I walked down the street, knowing I was being looked at with awe and wonder.

But that was all last week. I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I came back from my sister’s home near Bethlehem. There was a lot of confusion and a crowd of people around three crosses. I got to the spot where I could see above the crowd. That’s when I realized, the guy on the cross in the middle looked a lot like Jesus.

I had to get closer to the cross to make sure it was him. You see his face was all battered and bruised and there was blood covering parts of his beard. There was a crown of thorns on his head. It was just awful.

Don’t ask me how I did it, but I pushed through the crowd, and I was at the cross of Jesus. Even in the ugliness of it all, when I looked into his eyes, I saw nothing but grace and love. I couldn’t help but wonder, “why didn’t he do something.” Surely if he could call a dead man to life, he could speak to the nails in his hands and feet, and they would come out of the wood and release Him from the cross.

The longer I stood at the cross, the more I realized that, he was up there for me. He was taking my place for the sin I had done. He was the righteous one paying the penalty for the unrighteous one. Seeing Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was one thing. Finding him as my Savior at the cross was something altogether different. It was truly at the cross where I first saw the light the light and I had my burdens rolled away.