Daily Devotional For Friday, April 18, 2025
During this week leading up to Easter today is what is called “Good Friday.” It seems like an inappropriate way to name this day since Jesus was scourged, beaten, crucified and died on this day 2,025 years ago. So, what is this day called “Good Friday.” It has nothing to do with Jesus’ crucifixion but refers to the good on Easter that came from it.
Good Friday reminds me of Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (NLT). I think we all can agree that the evil done against Jesus on the cross, God brought good out of it on Easter. None of us can even imagine the physical anguish Jesus went through on the cross. Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, He was whipped with what is called a “Cat of Nine Tails.” This was a whip with nine leather strips that had glass, rock, jagged pieces of iron, and bone. When a Roman soldier hit someone with that, the leather strips wrapped about the victim’s body. Then when the soldier pulled that whip back to himself, those nine straps pulled out tissue, muscle, skin, and tendons resulting in massive damage to the body.
Rome had a law that only up to 39 hits could be done. That means 39x9 = 351 strikes. Rome had learned that anymore than 39 usually resulted in death due to blood loss. If a soldier did more than 39 hits, he was given the same punishment. But to a hedonistic and sadistic Roman soldier, this was entertainment. Bets were sometimes made to see how many strikes a victim could endure before they collapsed.
After this, they made a crown of thorns to mock Him being the King and forced that down on His brow. More pain and more blood loss. Then they drove nails into the wrists and ankles to hold the victim on the cross – more pain and more blood loss. The only way for a crucified person to breathe was to push up with their nail-pierced ankle on a platform and then release. With one’s arm stretched above one’s head, both inhaling and exhaling were impossible using your ankles to push you up. If you failed to do this, you suffocated.
If the person had any expensive clothing, such as the purple robe placed on Jesus, Romans soldiers cast lots to see who would get it. This was another form of sadistic entertainment. Many people hung for up to over a week before succumbing to death. Jesus died within hours. This was a shock to the Roman soldiers overseeing this crucifixion. As a result, John 19:33-34 tells us this: “But when they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs. (34) One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (NLT).
Why break the legs? – to cause suffocation. How do we explain John 19:34? A medical doctor gives this explanation:
“Jesus had a haemothorax, which in the stillness of the dead body, had separated out as they do into two layers: the heavier red cells below and the light watery plasma above. The haemothorax was the result of the savage flagellation. The withdrawal of the spear would have been followed first by the red cells (blood), then by the lighter plasma (water).
The body of Jesus had been hanging on the cross, dead, for some time. Obviously the fluid must have accumulated during life by a bleeding into the chest cavity, almost certainly due to the savage flagellation. It is well known that blood in these circumstances in a still dead body starts to separate out, to sediment, the heavier red cells sinking to the bottom leaving a much lighter, straw colored fluid, the plasma above. When a hole is made by the spear, the red cells, which John describes as blood, gushes out first, followed by the plasma, which John saw as water” (Source: Why Blood & Water?).
The Gospel writers make clear that not even Rome had authority over when Jesus died. It was His decision and His alone. This is why the Roman soldier was surprised and wanted to make sure Jesus was dead. In his experience, this never happened this quickly. What had been entertainment to the Roman soldiers, Jesus made it evangelistic to one thief and one Roman soldier. One thief cried out to Jesus to save him in Luke 23:40-43 and one Roman soldier acknowledged who Jesus was with his statement in Mark 15:39. Jesus said He came to “seek and to save the lost” and He did that all the way up to His immediate death.
Assignment: Imagine how Jesus must have felt physically and spiritually. Jesus was sinless, perfect, holy and righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says Jesus for the first time became sin for us. He had never experienced the trauma of sin. Imagine taking on all sin since the beginning of time through the future. Maybe you can now understand His cry in Matthew 27:45-47. I have taken a nail of the size used and pushed it against my palm without breaking the skin. It helped me appreciate more and more His sacrifice and anguish. This Good Friday, find a way that will help you understand what Jesus went through (that does not involve harming yourself) and then thank the Lord for it.
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Peter 2:24, “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I know I will never understand the depth of Your love on the cross nor the suffering You endured for us. All I can do is thank You and out of gratitude, live my life as a sacrifice for You and Your will. Please help me to do this. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly