Thursday, April 21, 2011

April 22, 2011

"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. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 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.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  Luke 23:33-39

Not much good on this Friday.

Terrible Friday makes sense. Horrible Friday would be accurate. Awful Friday certainly would fit. But GOOD Friday?

If you were lynched by an angry mob in the middle of the night, betrayed by a close friend, arrested on trumped up charges, ridiculed and then spat upon, would you call that a good day?

Would you call it a good day if you were savagely beaten and scouraged until your back looked like hamburger and then have a roughly hewn cross thrown onto your raw shoulder and forced to carry it one-half of a mile to the place where you would be nailed to that cross?

Jesus was cruelly crucified on a day that has come to be known and even celebrated as Good Friday! How can that be?

It can only be known as Good Friday because of what happened bright and early on Sunday morning! Good Friday was good only because of the resurrection! That single miraculous event changed everything before it and everything after it forever! The bloody cross of Golgotha led to the empty tomb in the garden!

And since that empty tomb, indeed, because of the resurrection the dark, difficult and painful Fridays of your life will always be followed by a Sunday! That is the power of a Risen Savior! That is the promise from a Risen Savior! Thus is the presence with a Risen Savior!

As Tony Campolo has declared, "It's Friday - but Sunday's coming!"

That's the glory of Easter! He's alive! He has risen as He said!

"But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."  Romans 8:10-11

If you are in a Friday time in your life - hold on - Sunday is coming!