On Wednesday evening I went out with others from my church to surrounding neighborhoods. We simply knocked on doors and invited our neighbors to our Easter services this weekend.
One lady that I spoke with kindly declined the invitation and told me that she would be attending her church to celebrate on Friday because “that’s when it really happened”.
Yes, today, Friday, is the day that Jesus was crucified, but the story doesn’t end there.
Jesus died for our sins on the cross at Calvary.
Good Friday is the day that we remember His sacrifice, His death on the cross.
It is good to remember this day, to remember the suffering, and the payment that Jesus made for us.
Jesus was buried and then he was raised on the third day!
He didn’t stay dead.
He was resurrected so that through him we may have life.
Without His resurrection, there is no celebration, there is no new life, there is no hope.
I am thankful for all that Christ did and I’m finding words so inadequate to describe my gratefulness.
He came to this Earth from perfect heaven above.
He made himself human and lived among the filth of this world.
He did that because he loved us.
He loved us before we knew him.
He loved us while we were still enemies with him.
He was betrayed into the hands of corrupt religious leaders who wanted to do nothing but get rid of him.
He died a horrible, painful death on a Roman cross.
He suffered more than we can fully imagine.
He bled, he cried out, he was separated from His Father.
Yet, even as he did this, he loved and he forgave.
He loved and forgave those who hurt him.
He loved and forgave you and me.
He committed his spirit to God and he died.
He was buried in a borrowed grave.
The story could have ended there. He could have been nothing more than a good teacher, a charismatic leader, and a disillusioned lunatic.
But it didn’t.
Friday isn’t the end.
There is so much more to this story. So much more to celebrate.
Three days later, on Sunday morning, he couldn’t be found in that borrowed tomb he was buried in.
He couldn’t be found because he wasn’t there.
He was alive!
He conquered death so that we may live.
So, while I am remembering today the crucifixion of my Lord on the cross and the death payment he made for me, I am celebrating on Sunday the life that he gives because he rose from the dead.