Good Friday Service - Mark 15:16-47

April 8, 2026·32 min·2 clips

“Surely this man was the son of God.”

1. Rivers Church of Christ’s Good Friday service is built around Mark 15:16-47 and the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross. 2. The speaker is a pastor who has been on leave for a few weeks, mentions a new baby, and frames the message for the church family at Easter. 3. The episode asks what it means to “look at the cross” with both lament and hope on Good Friday. 4. The sermon contrasts children, phones, news, work, friends, worries, and the cross as things that demand attention. 5. It cites Mark 15:25, where Jesus is crucified at nine in the morning and the charge reads, “The king of the Jews.” 6. It quotes the crowd, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law mocking Jesus with lines about destroying the temple and coming down from the cross. 7. The speaker argues that the title on the cross is true, because Jesus is the true king who rules with self-giving love. 8. The message says the cross exposes the “evil and the corruption of humanity” and the reality of sin, death, and spiritual darkness. 9. Isaiah 53:4-6 is read to explain that “he was pierced for our transgressions” and “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” 10. Peter’s attempt to protect Jesus is linked to Jesus’ rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan,” as an example of self-protection opposed to sacrificial love. 11. Mark 15:33-34 is read with the darkness at noon and Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 12. Timothy Gombos is quoted to say Jesus knows “precisely what it is like to be abandoned by God.” 13. The sermon says Jesus’ cry gives permission for honest prayer when suffering, tragedy, sickness, or weakness make God feel absent. 14. Mark 15:37-39 is used to show Jesus breathing his last, the temple curtain tearing from top to bottom, and the centurion’s confession, “surely this man was the son of God.” 15. The speaker emphasizes that the Roman centurion, not the disciples, recognizes Jesus at the cross. 16. Joseph of Arimathea is described as a “prominent member of the council” who goes boldly to Pilate and asks for Jesus’ body. 17. The sermon presents Joseph’s burial of Jesus as costly identification with the crucified Messiah. 18. The tone is reflective, exhorting, and scripture-heavy, with direct reading from Mark, Isaiah, and Hebrews. 19. The format is a sermon with prayer, extended exposition, and a communion invitation at the end. 20. Best for people who want Good Friday, Mark 15, and cross-shaped discipleship.

As heard by us

A Good Friday service turns attention from daily demands to the cross, where suffering, prayer, and hope are held together.

The service treats Good Friday as a call to pay attention. It starts with the ordinary things that keep pulling the gaze elsewhere: a new baby, phones, the news, to-do lists, work, friends, worries, and problems.

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Why you'd press play

When daily noise crowds the cross out, this Good Friday message gives your attention somewhere weightier to go.

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