The other day I was thinking one thing and said another. I referred to the Friday before Easter as Black Friday instead of Good Friday. This happens to some people as age creeps in! But it got me to thinking that it was a black Friday to some people.
Mary the mother of Jesus – Can you
imagine how the mother heart of Mary felt as she watched her son
being beaten, and eventually put upon a cross? But Mary knew this
man was not just her first born son. She knew He was God's son. And
she may have been dismayed to see him be crucified, wondering how the
plan of God would work out. Although as a good Jewish girl she may
have remembered her Old Testament teaching, she also had the words of
Simeon when she took Jesus to the temple. He foretold that a “sword
would pierce her heart also”. Even though Jesus told John the
disciple to take care of her after he was gone, for Mary, this was a
very black Friday
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of
James and Joseph, were with Jesus' mother at the cross. They had
followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. Luke 23:49 They even
accompanied the body to the tomb and later went back at dawn and saw
the empty tomb. They wondered who had stolen the body when an angel
appeared to them, telling them that he had risen. These women loved
Jesus and on that Friday they thought he was gone for good. And it
was truly a black Friday to them.
Peter, James and John – these men
were known as the inner circle. They had the most intimate
interaction with Jesus those last three years and here was Jesus
hanging on a cross! It was a black Friday.
Pontius Pilate – was a Roman governor
under the emperor of Tiberius in the first century. He is best
known as the judge of Jesus' trial. He unwillingly handed Jesus over
to the soldiers to be crucified. His heart was burdened and he
washed his hands and said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just
Person.” Matthew 27:24 It was a black Friday.
Heavenly Father/Almighty God –
Because the Son had taken sin upon Himself, the Father turned His
back. One commentator said, “Somehow God was separated from God.”
Jesus cried out in anguish, ”My God, My God, Why have you forsaken
me?” It was a black Friday.
With the exception of God the Father
and Jesus, His Son, all these people were unaware that “it was
Friday, but Sunday was coming!” It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming is a link to an awesome version of Tony Compolo's classic sermon by Don Buck P Creacy. You see, this “black
Friday” was really a Good Friday because of what Jesus did on the
cross. I John 2:2 says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our
sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole
world.” When Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished”,
the price for our sin was paid.
Luke 24:1-7 But on the first day
of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb . . .they found the
stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not
find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about
this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they
were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground the men said to
them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here
but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in
Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Jesus
was alive and they ran to tell the good news! So we know the Friday
before Easter as Good Friday because of the death of Jesus, who gave
His life that we may have life more abundant. John 10:10
A chorus to the hymn, One Day,
gives us the gospel in a nutshell.
Living, He loved me;
dying, He saved me;
Buried He carried my sins
far away;
Rising He justified freely
forever;
One day He's coming – O
Glorious Day!
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