WEBVTT 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:22.640 I'll be reading from Luke chapter 22, verses 39 to 53. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:29.280 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:34.399 And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:42.000 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.520 Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.359 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:55.679 And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:02.960 And when he arose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, Why are you sleeping? 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:06.159 Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:12.959 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:19.680 He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:25.359 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.519 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.840 But Jesus said, No more of this. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.480 And he touched his ear and healed him. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:43.439 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.359 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.000 But this is your hour and the power of darkness. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.280 And so reads God's word. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:16.639 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man also is with him. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.319 But he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.800 And a little later someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.520 But Peter said, Man, I am not. 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:36.960 And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, Certainly, this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.639 But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.560 And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.439 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:54.800 And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.520 And he went out and wept bitterly. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.400 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:08.479 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, Prophet, prophesy, who is it that struck you? 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:12.000 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:23.840 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council, and they said, If you are the Christ, tell us. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:30.000 But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I ask you, you will not answer. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:34.719 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.520 So they all said, Are you the Son of God then? 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.080 And he said to them, You say that I am. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:43.360 Then they said, What further testimony do we need? 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:45.919 We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:47.439 And so reads the word of God. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.919 Luke 23, 1 to 16. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:04:04.240 Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.840 And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.639 And he answered him, You have said so. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:15.919 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:22.879 But they were urgent, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:26.720 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:34.319 And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:43.680 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.600 So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:55.839 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:06.639 Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate, and Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:25.680 Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him, neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.040 Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:31.360 I will therefore punish and release him. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:32.560 So reads God's word. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.839 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.399 Pilate said to them, Behold the man. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:09.920 When the chief priest and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:15.439 Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:22.959 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.480 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.959 He enters his headquarters again and said to Jesus, Where are you from? 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:33.199 But Jesus gave him no answer. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:36.240 So Pilate said to him, You will not speak to me? 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:40.639 Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:46.720 Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given to you from above. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.079 Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.879 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not a Caesar's friend. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.000 Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:08.879 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, in an Aramaic Gabitha. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:11.759 Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:13.600 It was about the sixth hour. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.399 He said to the Jews, Behold your king. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:20.800 They cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.920 Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.519 The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.480 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:40.000 So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of the skull, which an Aramaic has called Gogatha, and so reads God's word. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.079 A reading from John 19, 18 to 27. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:50.959 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:54.480 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.920 It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:07.279 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:15.439 So the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write the King of the Jews, but rather, this man said, I am the King of the Jews. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.120 Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:27.519 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.199 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:36.480 So they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:43.039 This was to fulfill the scriptures which said, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:52.240 So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:09:00.480 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:04.240 Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.480 And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:09.840 And so reads God's word. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:23.279 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, To fulfill the scripture, I test. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:34.399 A jarful of soil wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the soil wine on a hipso branch and held it to his mouth. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:39.600 When Jesus had received the soil wine, he said, It is finished. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:43.519 And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:54.559 Since it was the day of preparation and saw that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:01.039 The Jews asked Pilates that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:09.120 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:17.039 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:24.960 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with his spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:30.720 He who was it has borne witness. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:39.759 His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.320 For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.200 Not one of his bones will be broken. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.120 And again, another scripture says, This will look on him whom they have pierced. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:54.480 And so with God's word. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.480 So he came and took away his body. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:24.720 Nicodemus also, who earlier had to had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of mirror and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:33.039 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the b burial custom of the Jews. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:40.639 Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:48.320 So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there, and so reads God's word. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.360 It's always strange to me that we call today good. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:58.000 If we'd been there two thousand years ago, we wouldn't have called it good. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:12.559 It feels reading uh both from Luke's Gospel and from John, as we've done over the last little while, that there's so little good about it. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:37.840 There's so much injustice and corruption, to say nothing of the violence and the shame and the horror and the death and yet Christians all around the world gather today, this evening, to remember this Friday that we call good. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:39.519 Why? 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.240 Why do we call it good? 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:47.840 Good Friday will make no sense to you if you do not know what it's for. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:54.559 That it was designed, that it was purposeful. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.679 We're not gonna have time this evening. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:05.759 Uh you might be relieved to know uh to go through in detail all of the things from John 19, where we'll be looking at in just a moment. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:35.759 But one of the things all the way through uh the crucifixion narrative is John either explicitly says this was in order to fulfill, or there are allusions to Old Testament passages, like the burial with Joseph of Arimathea, where Isaiah, 700 years before the birth of Jesus, uh, says that the suffering servant, the Messiah, would be buried with the rich with a rich man in his death. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:41.440 And Joseph of Aramathea was a wealthy man, part of that Jewish ruling council. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:47.440 And so there's lots of intent behind this day that we call good. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:52.080 It was achieving a purpose, it was necessary for something. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:11.200 It was necessary because of a need that we have, a need for redemption, a need for forgiveness, a need for grace, and to feel like we've been brought back home. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.320 The significance of the cross does not reside in the physical torment. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.440 Do you notice how quickly in the reading John actually moves on. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.360 He says, And so they crucified him. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:36.559 He doesn't go into all of the gory details because the purpose of Good Friday does not reside in the physical side of things, but in the divine intent behind it. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:15:02.799 People talk often about the the cross of the Lord Jesus being a display of God's love, and it is, but it's a display of God's love because, and here's what we're gonna look at tonight, because Jesus sees our need, he feels our need, and he meets our need. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:08.559 He sees our need, he feels our need, and he meets it. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.879 First of all, Jesus sees our need. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.080 It's a sad reality in our world that relationships fracture and break down. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:39.360 All of us, I imagine, sitting here have experienced something of what it is to grieve and to know the loss of a loved one, or to feel that fracturing of relationship and to feel uh estranged from people. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:46.320 It is part of what it is like to live in a world that has been ravaged by what the Bible calls sin. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:53.759 Sin disintegrates, it rips things apart, and relationships are no exception. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:16:03.279 But on the cross, John 19, Jesus does something remarkable. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:05.360 He's doing lots of remarkable things, right? 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:10.080 But he does one particular remarkable, beautiful thing. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:16.080 He looks down from the cross and he sees his mother. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:26.480 He was the elder son, it was his job to care and to provide for her, and now he is now she would be left alone. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.919 He looks at her and he sees her and he sees her need. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:38.480 And then he looks and he sees who John calls the disciple whom Jesus loved. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:44.399 That is uh John's not quite shorthand, more longhand for describing himself. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:47.200 He is the disciple whom Jesus loved. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.840 And so Jesus looks and he sees John. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:57.519 And in speaking to them both, he speaks to them in turn and says, Behold your son. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:59.679 Behold your mother. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:05.599 He's saying to uh to John, look after my mum. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.599 Take care of her. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.079 And he's saying to his mother, he will be your son now. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:14.079 He will care for you. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:24.960 He forges this new community, he forges this new relationship, uh, not of not of blood, but of something more. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:28.000 Bought by blood, certainly. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:32.799 Stop and think uh how amazing that is. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:37.680 And if you've been in that city for the last few weeks, we've been interacting with this for for some time. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:46.720 Now you think right back to John chapter 13, where the disciples are are feeling quite anxious, quite stressed about what's going to happen. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.279 And Jesus keeps on reassuring them. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:53.680 He keeps on saying, Don't let your hearts be troubled. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.240 My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:00.640 Yeah, he's the one who's going to go and to suffer this sort of death. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:02.880 He is the one who is going to die. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.359 But he keeps on meeting their need, he keeps on reassuring them. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:09.920 What an amazing thing. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:18.400 That even as Jesus dies, a horrific death, crucifixion was essentially a death by uh asphyxiation. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:29.839 You didn't die from the wounds from being nailed to the cross, you died ultimately from exhaustion and not being able to breathe, because you were constantly having to push yourself up on that cross. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:32.240 It's a horrible way to die. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:43.519 And yet, even in those dying moments, with those labor dying breaths, he thinks not about himself but about others. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.039 If that's not the purpose of the cross and microcosm, I don't know what is. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:56.160 He sees the need of his mother, and in his love, he uses those last moments to meet his needs. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:58.880 Now here's the point. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:02.079 Imagine, just imagine. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:10.720 If you really believe that Jesus saw you, really saw you, saw you like nobody else saw you. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:17.359 Imagine if you believed that Jesus really saw your need and loved you in it. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:27.759 He is more powerful now in his resurrected and ascended glory, not to give away spoilers before Sunday. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:29.839 Keep on reading. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:36.319 He is more powerful now in his resurrected glory than he was on that cross. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:59.279 Which means that he is more able to see you, to see your need for forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, cleansing, renewal, and able, because of his great love and his great power, to meet those needs. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:06.880 Jesus saw his mother on that cruel cross and met her need. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.880 Jesus sees our need, but no more than that. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.119 He feels our need. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:32.559 Another remarkable thing about the crucifixion account from Jesus' arrest and trial before Pilate and the and the Jewish ruling council is just how little Jesus speaks. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:43.519 Isaiah again in that uh Isaiah 53 passage says that the suffering servant, the Messiah, will be uh like a lamb before his shears. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:48.240 He'll be silent, he will open not his mouth. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.039 And we see that borne out in the account. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.440 Jesus speaks very little. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:08.000 And so isn't it strange, perhaps, that John then records the second uh form of speech from the cross where Jesus says, I thirst. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:15.839 Why would John record that Jesus got thirsty? 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:27.519 Perhaps it was to impress upon us the nature of crucifixion, but as we've already noted, John is quite scant in those details. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:33.440 Why does he say, why does he record for us that Jesus says, I thirst? 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:38.880 To thirst in the Bible is a metaphor. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:50.319 It is a metaphor for longing for God, for needing to experience him and to have an encounter with him. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:54.880 It is a yearning to be in his presence. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:22:04.079 And so the psalmist says in Psalm 42 as the deer pants for streams of Of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:07.839 My soul thirsts for God, the living God. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.559 When can I go to meet with God? 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.440 Or David writing in Psalm 63 says, O God, you are my God. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:17.279 Earnestly I seek you. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:25.039 My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.559 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld you in your power and glory. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:39.440 Thirsting in the Bible is about longing and yearning to be back in the presence of God. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:43.759 Human beings are thirsty creatures. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:51.279 We are thirsty creatures and we are longing for something to satisfy our soul. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.200 We don't call them thirsts. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:54.880 Do you know what we call them? 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.039 We call them desires. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.440 We call them desires. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:03.440 But those desires are soul thirsts. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:06.480 Soul thirsts that we're trying to quench. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.400 We try to quench them every day. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.400 We try to quench them with the things that we do and the relationships that we're in. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:20.000 We try to quench them with acceptance and affirmation or power or control or comfort or sex or money or career or a loved one. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:25.839 We try to quench those thirsts, those desires, those soul yearnings. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.960 We're all thirsty creatures. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.720 Back in John chapter 4, if you remember all the way back, maybe you weren't even that city when we did John chapter 4. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:37.519 Welcome. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:52.880 But there's a there's an encounter that Jesus has there with a woman at a well, and there's a whole conversation about water and how Jesus is going to offer water to this woman, and if she drinks of it, she'll never be thirsty again. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:24:00.480 And she thinks, brilliant, let's let's have this permanent thirst-quenching water. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:01.920 I'd love to have it. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:06.480 And Jesus responds to her and says, Go and call your husband. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:16.000 Why has a nice conversation about where to get a drink suddenly taken a left turn to asking about her private life? 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:24.559 Because Jesus, uh, does he not does he not know how to conduct a polite and civil conversation that doesn't seem to be the kind of question that you'd ask? 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:31.119 And yet actually what he's doing is he's drawing out just how thirsty she is. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.000 Because she responds and says, Well, I don't have a husband. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:36.319 And Jesus says, Well, you're right to say you have no husband. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:37.839 You've had four husbands. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.799 The man who you're now with is not your husband. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:53.680 You see, she's got a thirsty soul, and she's been looking for it in the acceptance and intimacy that it comes from these men. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:00.000 But Jesus is saying, Come to me, drink from me. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:05.599 I'll satisfy those deep longings that your heart has. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:09.039 You're longing for love and for acceptance. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:17.920 You're longing to be truly, completely known, and truly and completely loved. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:29.920 All the things that we run after to quench the thirsts in our soul, they never truly satisfy, like the uh like the water that comes from a well, we get thirsty again. 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:39.599 And we feel their limitedness and we wonder, is there going to be, is there something that really will satisfy me deep down? 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:40.559 So I see S. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:56.960 Lewis says, if I feel in my heart a desire and a longing that nothing in this world can satisfy, I must therefore conclude that I am made for a different world. 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:09.599 The yearnings and longings and desires that you have in your soul are an internal indicator and a witness that you're made for something more. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:18.960 That you're designed and made to have your thirst quenched by someone else. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.599 Why does Jesus say, I thirst on the cross? 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:30.240 Well, because on the cross he felt that estrangement. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:39.279 He felt what it was like to be cut off from God, from his father for the first time. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:41.119 He felt our need. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.559 He took it into himself. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:53.200 We have all run from the God who made us, the only one who can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:27:00.799 We have all forsaken him and found ourselves as a result thirsty and alone. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:18.480 But on the cross, Jesus said, I thirst, so that we might be brought back to the God who quenches the thirsts, desires, longings, and yearnings of our weary soul. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:24.079 Jesus feels sort of Jesus feels our need. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.720 Thirdly, finally, Jesus meets our need. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:40.000 Final words tend to be recorded, they tend to matter, they get passed down for posterity. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:47.279 Do you know what the final words of uh the Prophet Muhammad are? 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:54.960 Final words of the Prophet Muhammad are, you will answer to Allah for your deeds, do not stray from the righteous path. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:05.200 Gautama the Buddha, his final words were strive and gain your salvation. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:14.559 Jesus' final words stand as a stark contrast to those two, don't they? 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:17.359 People think all of all world religions are the same. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:18.640 They're really not. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.440 Because one of the things that both Muhammad and Buddha were saying is, do. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:26.720 Keep on doing, keep on striving. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:28.400 Jesus' final words. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:29.920 It is finished. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:31.599 It's actually one word. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.680 Teta lestae. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:37.440 It is finished. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:46.000 It's the uh same word that would be written over a um a bill of debt. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:59.440 So you had a say you had a debt and you paid it off, the uh creditor or the accountant would write on the word uh write on it teta lesti, meaning paid in full. 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:04.079 Isn't that an interesting way to think about the cross? 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.240 Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:13.200 Our sins had left a crimson stain, he washed them white as snow. 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:24.079 These final words are the difference between a follower of Jesus and the follower of any other worldview. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:34.960 Every other worldview, whether it's an established religion like Islam or Buddhism, says do, work harder, be better, do more. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:44.720 And even if you're not particularly religious, isn't that kind of what secular humanism, radical individualism has at its heart? 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:50.000 It's saying forge your own path, make your own way, create your own self. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:52.160 It's all do, do, do. 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:54.319 Jesus says, done. 00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:57.440 Jesus says, done. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:04.160 Sin paid for, pain in full, relationship with God restored. 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:10.240 All of our striving, all of our striving will lead us to one of two places. 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:13.440 It will lead us either to pride or to despair. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:15.200 Pride, I did it. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:17.519 It's the religious leaders. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:23.839 I think that they were pleasing God by their external religious observance. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:30.160 You'll look down at others, but you'll also be riddled with anxiety because you'll think, well, who's coming up behind me? 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:34.720 Or it will lead you to despair and you say, I can't do it. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:42.400 I keep on falling back into those into those destructive, thirsty paths. 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:48.559 I'm still isolated, I'm still alone, I'm still failing. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:55.839 Jesus says, It is finished, I've done it all. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:58.480 No one can take it away. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:00.799 It is yours as a gift of faith. 00:31:01.119 --> 00:31:02.319 Rest in me. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:07.440 I've paid it all, all of your sin is dealt with, all of your brokenness. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:14.480 I have taken it, I have absorbed it into myself, and by my resurrection I will give you new life. 00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:16.319 Rests in me. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.440 None of us can please God on our own. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:24.559 We cannot live for God in our own strength. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:28.000 We cannot live even up to our own standards. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:42.480 The invitation of Good Friday, the thing that makes Good Friday good is that the man of sorrows on that cruel cross says, it is finished. 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:44.640 Paid in full. 00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:00.000 On that cross, he felt your need. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:10.960 But more wonderfully than that, on that cross, he met your need and offers you forgiveness in life. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.319 That's what makes Good Friday good. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:35.279 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in the link below.