Ray Hollenbach offers insights about Good Friday. Hollenbach, a husband, a father, a writer, a (former) pastor, a businessman, and a student of Jesus, writes about faith and culture at StudentsofJesus.com. He currently lives in central Kentucky, which is filled with faith and culture. His article, Good Friday: 4 Preaching Points to Remember, helps non-preachers as well as preachers see the good in Good Friday. Here is an excerpt:
“We want to embrace the resurrection, but Good Friday is an opportunity to remind your people that Jesus calls us to the Cross, too.
As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace Good Friday, which is a little bit like saying we need to embrace torture.
From that time on, Jesus began to explain to His disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to You!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men."
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it."
Matthew 16: 21–25
Friday is the Road to Sunday:
Good Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, but there’s more to it than remembering; our task as preachers is to call people to the Cross. We want to embrace the resurrection, but Jesus calls us to the Cross, too. The famous sermon says, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" More properly, the point of the story is that Friday is the road to Sunday. There's no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. There is no resurrection without the Cross. Our job as pastors is to tell the truth to His people: there's a Good Friday for all of us.”