Good Friday Service
Worship Service
Services
Lectionary Theme: Good Friday; Crucified Christ, the way to Eternal Life
-
Isaiah 53 First Lesson
1. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2. 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, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.
9. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
-
1 Peter 1 Second Lesson
1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2. who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. A Living Hope
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4. and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5. who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials,
7. so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
9. for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry,
11. inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory.
12. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look! A Call to Holy Living
13. Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.
14. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.
15. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct;
16. for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17. If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.
18. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19. but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
20. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
21. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
22. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
23. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
24. For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25. but the word of the Lord endures forever.” That word is the good news that was announced to you.
-
Matthew 26:47-75 Epistle
47. While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
48. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.”
49. At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
50. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.
51. Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
52. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.
53. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
54. But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?”
55. At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.
56. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
57. Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.
58. But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.
59. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death,
60. but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward
61. and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”
62. The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?”
63. But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64. Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy.
66. What do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death.”
67. Then they spat in his face and struck him, and some slapped him,
68. saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?”
69. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”
70. But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”
71. When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.”
72. Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.”
73. After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.”
74. Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed.
75. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
-
Zechariah 13 Fourth Lesson
1. On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. Idolatry Cut Off
2. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more; and also I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit.
3. And if any prophets appear again, their fathers and mothers who bore them will say to them, “You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord”; and their fathers and their mothers who bore them shall pierce them through when they prophesy.
4. On that day the prophets will be ashamed, every one, of their visions when they prophesy; they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive,
5. but each of them will say, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.”
6. And if anyone asks them, “What are these wounds on your chest?” the answer will be “The wounds I received in the house of my friends.” The Shepherd Struck, the Flock Scattered
7. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8. In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive.
9. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
-
Galatians 3:1-22 Second Lesson
1. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!
2. The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
3. Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
4. Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.
5. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
6. Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”
7. so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.
8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.”
9. For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.
10. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”
11. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
12. But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”
13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
14. in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The Promise to Abraham
15. Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.
16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, “And to offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is Christ.
17. My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
18. For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise. The Purpose of the Law
19. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.
20. Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.
21. Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law.
22. But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
-
Matthew 27:1-44 Epistle
1. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.
2. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
4. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
5. Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
6. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.”
7. After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners.
8. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price,
10. and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
11. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”
12. But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer.
13. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?”
14. But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
15. Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted.
16. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Jesus Barabbas.
17. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
18. For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.
19. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”
20. Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.
21. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
22. Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!”
23. Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24. So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
25. Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
26. So he released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus he handed him over to be crucified.
27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him.
28. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29. and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30. They spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
31. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32. As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.
33. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),
34. they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
35. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots;
36. then they sat down there and kept watch over him.
37. Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
38. Then two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
39. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads
40. and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41. In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,
42. “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
43. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ”
44. The rebels who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.
-
Numbers 21:1-9 First Lesson
1. When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.
2. Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.”
3. The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so the place was called Hormah.
4. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.
5. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”
6. Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
7. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”
9. So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. The Journey to Moab
-
Hebrews 3 Second Lesson
1. Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
2. was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all God’s house.”
3. Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
4. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
5. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later.
6. Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Warning against Unbelief
7. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,
8. do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9. where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works
10. for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’
11. As in my anger I swore, ‘They will not enter my rest.’”
12. Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
15. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16. Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?
17. But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?
19. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
-
Matthew 27:45-56 Epistle
45. From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
46. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47. When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”
48. At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.
49. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
50. Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.
51. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.
52. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
53. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.
54. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
55. Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.
56. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.