Good evening, and thank you for joining us for our Tenebrae Service tonight. Tenebrae — Latin for “shadows” or “darkness” — is a centuries-old service designed to move us through the final events of Holy Week. As we progress through the reading, the lights will dim and candles will be extinguished one by one, painting a picture of the darkness that fell when Christ died. It’s a sobering, beautiful way to prepare our hearts for Easter morning.
Pastor Josh White opened the service by inviting everyone to light their candles. These aren’t just aesthetic — each candle represents a soul, the light of Christ in us. As the service unfolds, those lights will go out one by one, culminating in near-total darkness as we reflect on the death of Jesus. But there’s always one candle left. That final light represents the hope that death does not have the final word.
Light in the Darkness: The Suffering Servant
Our reading began in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 — one of the most detailed Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s suffering. This passage would have been read in synagogues for centuries before Jesus arrived. And when you read it with eyes open to Christ, it’s unmistakable.
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
— Isaiah 53:3-5
Pastor Josh pointed out something convicting in this passage: the people who witnessed Jesus’s suffering — the religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, the crowds — didn’t understand what they were seeing. They thought they were witnessing a defeated criminal. God, in His providence, was using that moment to accomplish the salvation of the world. The very worst day in human history was the mechanism of our redemption.
“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 her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
— Isaiah 53:7
The Triumphal Entry: Joy and Sorrow in the Same Moment
We then moved into Matthew’s account of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Crowds were shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” — joy, celebration, expectation of a king. And in the middle of it all, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
— Matthew 23:37
Pastor Josh highlighted this striking contrast: the people were welcoming Jesus with Hosannas, and Jesus was grieving because He knew what they would do within the week. They would cry “Crucify him!” He knew the darkness that was coming, and still He moved toward it — not with resentment, but with compassion. He wept for the people who didn’t understand what they were doing.
The Last Supper and Gethsemane: Obedience to the End
We read through Jesus’s last supper with His disciples, including the institution of communion — the bread and cup that would become for us the most meaningful meal in human history. Then we followed Jesus to the Mount of Olives, where He prayed in agony, sweat like drops of blood, and asked the Father if there was any other way.
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
— Matthew 26:39
The word “cup” in biblical language refers to God’s judgment. Jesus was asking if there was any other way to reconcile fallen humanity to a holy God. The answer, of course, was no. The cross was the only way. And Jesus submitted to the Father’s will, not because it was easy, but because it was the only path to our salvation.
The Trials and the Cross: Injustice and Grace
We then walked through Jesus’s trials — the religious leaders, the mockings, Pilate, the scourging, the crucifixion. It was read as it happened: quickly, painfully, with no glossing over the brutality. What stands out most powerfully is Jesus’s silence. When struck, He didn’t retaliate. When falsely accused, He didn’t defend Himself. He trusted the Father with perfect obedience, “even to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
— Isaiah 53:12
So What?
Why do we call it Good Friday? The events themselves were horrific. An innocent man was tortured and executed. Those who loved Him watched in anguish. By every earthly measure, it was a tragedy.
But Pastor Josh closed with this: we do not deserve this kind of gift or this kind of love. God did not owe us anything. We are sinful, rebellious, undeserving. And yet, in an act of mercy that defies all logic, God sent His Son to absorb the punishment we earned. The cross is good news because it means we don’t have to pay the price ourselves. Jesus paid it fully.
As you leave tonight — whether your candle is still lit or you’ve watched it go out in the reading — remember: the light will return. Easter is coming. And because of that dark Friday, we have hope.
Scripture References
- Isaiah 52:13-53:12 — The suffering servant prophecy
- Matthew 21:1-11 — Jesus’s triumphal entry
- Matthew 23:37 — Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
- Matthew 26:26-30 — The Last Supper
- Matthew 26:36-46 — Jesus in Gethsemane
- Matthew 26:47-27:56 — Jesus’s trials and crucifixion
- Philippians 2:8 — Obedience to the point of death