2 Apr 2021 Good Friday Service
Bible
Job 1:1-22
Luke 23:26-49
Job
1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
1:2 He had seven sons and three daughters,
1:3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
1:4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
1:5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
1:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.
1:7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”
1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
1:9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.
1:10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.
1:11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
1:12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
1:13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,
1:14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,
1:15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
1:16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
1:17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
1:18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,
1:19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
1:20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship
1:21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Luke
23:26 As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
23:27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.
23:28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
23:29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
23:30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”‘
23:31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
23:32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
23:33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals–one on his right, the other on his left.
23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
23:35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
23:36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar
23:37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
23:38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
23:41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
23:43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
23:45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
23:47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
23:48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
23:49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.