Friday 3rd April – Good Friday – Pastor Adrian Kitson

3-04-2026, good friday, Mark 15:25-32, pastor adrian kitson

²⁵It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

²⁷They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^[28]²⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³²Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

I wonder whether those few followers were game enough to stand close enough to see that disfigured body gasping for air high up on that deadly cross. Or did they keep their distance?

This man they loved; the one they sensed was the Servant of whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken seven hundred years before this day was hung higher than an average sized man. That is enough to inflict maximum fear and deterrent to resist or rebel against the iron fist of the empire.

I wonder whether they had words they had known all their life about this man running around their confused heads. He was the one they sensed was a long-promised and very different king – a Servant king; a Suffering Servant King. Here he was….suffering.

I wonder whether words like these were exploding inside their heads and deepening their heartache and confusion – making the trauma worse!

How did it all end up like this?

I offered my back to those who beat me,

my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from mocking and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6)

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:2b-3)

He frustratingly had said so little to defend himself before the Governor and others and he is still close to silent dangling in the hot sun.

He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

They were living in a moment of gross injustice.

⁸ By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Injustice and cruelty seem to attract friends, especially when they believe they cannot lose. Like keyboard warriors and trolls in our time who denigrate and shame with angry words in cloaked anonymity online.

We hear that city dwellers of the day who actually had a lot to lose if this guy turned out to be stronger or smarter or more divine, join in the fun,

“So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!”

“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

Little did they know that there was a big loss coming. It was Friday, but Sunday was coming.

They said they wanted to see and believe. But it was only on their terms not his.

We want to see the spectacular; the impossible, the unheard of. We want to see something irrefutable. We want real evidence. We want proof.

If we get all that we will believe that you are worth it; worth listening to, worth following; worth emulating; worth letting in to our stone-cold hearts; worth allowing your teaching to shape our lives…

Really? Will proof do it? Will hard evidence really do it? Will a spectacular show doit? Will anything he does or says, do it?

What did Jesus say at one point?

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

In other words, if those who say they listen to God’s story, are proud to be part of God’s people, know God’s guidance and commitments to them only ever hear what they want to hear on their own terms, so they can keep on living the way they want, not even a guy rising from the grave will change their heart to a receptive and open one to what God is doing and who God is.

Will a crucified Jesus of Nazareth rising from the dead change you, influence your decisions, shape your character, inform your relationships, guide your work, transform your purpose in life?

Maybe it is better to keep your distance?

Isaiah’s speaks.

“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob,

2 you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city

and claim to rely on the God of Israel—

You have neither heard nor understood;

from of old your ears have not been open.

Well do I know how treacherous you are;

you were called a rebel from birth.

4 For I knew how stubborn you were;

your neck muscles were iron,

your forehead was bronze.

5 Therefore I told you these things before they happened

so that you could not say,

‘My wooden image and metal god ordained them.’

If Jesus had miraculously got down from that cross and given the proof they were after, their head would have remained stationary, their chin tight and their forehead bronze because they though they did not need him anyway. Thus, the abuse. You only abuse people you think you don’t need or that you don’t actually want or that you regard as less than.

Where does this Jesus of Nazareth sit in your life? Are you looking for proof today? Proof enough before you will let his words in? Are you looking for a show? Good enough to trust him? Are you chasing something lovely to behold? Lovely enough to follow?

Friend, they were confused, unsure and broken. You might be too. Others were prideful, vengeful and angry. You might be too.

For us, the bold and the beautiful, the proud and the broken, the stubborn and the supple, I think it best this day to simply stand with the weeping women, gather with the grieving disciples, stay silent as the abuse goes on and on and on, plea for God’s mercy at the injustice we see happening in the world this particular Good Friday, identify the losses that may be coming your way and just look at that man on that cross.

And when the looking gives way to listening, hear a whisper of hope in his words from that brutal cross; Words pointing you to the end of pain and beginning of hope for your life; the beginning of a new life, a new hope, a new you that is loved despite your confusion, pain, loss or sorrow, a new you despite your pride, your blocked ears or constant search for the spectacular and the quick fix.

Isaiah speaks it: Can you hear it?

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

5 he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

Sunday coming.

There is healing in his wounds and life in his blood.

You may be convinced that these gifts and this man is yours if someone rose from the dead.

Good Friday Bible Study Reflection

Mark 15:33–34 — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Sitting with the Darkness

Mark tells us that “darkness came over the whole land” from noon until three in the afternoon. This is not only atmospheric detail; it signals something cosmic and personal happening at the same time. Creation itself seems to recoil as the Son of God bears what humanity cannot.

For those who followed Jesus, this darkness would have felt like the collapse of hope. Nothing is explained. Nothing is resolved. God appears silent.

Reflection

Where do you recognise darkness in your own life—seasons where God felt absent or silent?
What is it like to realise that Jesus did not avoid that silence, but entered it?

Jesus’ Cry: Faith from the Depths

Jesus cries out the opening line of Psalm 22:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This is not a polished prayer. It is a raw cry. Yet even in anguish, Jesus says “my God.” He does not let go of relationship, even when he cannot feel God’s presence.

This moment confirms something profound: Jesus fully enters human abandonment—fear, loss, confusion, unanswered prayer.

Reflection

What does it mean for you that Jesus prays Scripture when words fail?
How does knowing Jesus experienced God-forsakenness affect how you bring your own prayers to God?

Misunderstood and Mocked

Those listening misunderstand Jesus’ cry, mistaking it for a call to Elijah. Even now, at the lowest point, Jesus is unheard and misinterpreted.

This reminds us that suffering often isolates. Pain can leave us misunderstood even by those standing nearby.

Reflection

When have you felt unseen or misunderstood during suffering?
How does Jesus’ experience validate those moments?

The Cost of Love

Good Friday forces us to confront the cost of God’s love. Jesus does not step down from the cross. He stays. He bears injustice, mockery, and silence.

This is not weakness—it is deliberate love absorbing what would otherwise crush us.

Reflection

What expectations of God are challenged when you look at the cross?
How does this reshape your understanding of power, victory, and faithfulness?

Waiting Without Resolution

Good Friday ends without answers. There is no resurrection yet. Faith today looks like waiting, lamenting, and trusting without proof.

The invitation of Good Friday is not to fix the pain, but to stand near the cross—to stay, to watch, and to listen.

Reflection

Where are you tempted to rush past pain to resolution?
What might it look like to remain present with Jesus in suffering—your own and the world’s?

Closing Prayer

Crucified Lord,
we bring you our confusion, our silence,
our unanswered questions and aching losses.
Teach us to trust you even in the dark.
Help us to stand with you at the cross,
believing that love is still at work
even when we cannot yet see it.
Amen.