This Changes Nothing

This is a perplexing time of year. Secular culture celebrates Easter as a day for gathering, feasting, and fun for the kids. Traditional Christianity celebrates Easter as the linchpin of its existence. Good Friday (today), as it’s known, might not seem so good to those who are new to or are unfamiliar with the Biblical narrative. Today is a day to remember in solemn humility with gratitude and the highest amount of reverence. At the young age of 33, after 3 years of public life and an entire life lived beautifully before entirely pagan and extremely religious cultures at the same time, Jesus of Nazareth was…

…sold out by his “friend”

…ridiculed

…stripped naked

…spat upon

…beaten

…pierced in his brow

…nailed to a tree

…raised as a spectacle to be mocked

…pierced in his side

…and finally gave up his spirit as he died on that cruel tree

Tell me now, what is good about this? How does this extreme torture convey to any form of news that could be considered good? It’s simple really.

As Theanthropos, the God-man, Jesus had the power to lay down his own life. As much as it may seem that this murder could be blamed on treason, greed, and a lust for power, the person responsible for this death was Jesus himself. And he did it so that you and I could live. By doing this, he made a mockery of the world systems, religions, and powers that appear wise, but are in reality foolish. By doing this he ushered in a new kingdom, one that is insidious toward the principalities of evil, one that changes hearts, changes lives, and indeed the world.

True, history can show the pillaging (dare I say poisoning) affects of religions that have tortured, oppressed and killed millions through the ages. However, Jesus’ good death on that brutal cross exposed the evil heart of man and then…

…one day

…two days

…on the third day he rose again.

Indeed “Good Friday” is only good because it is succeeded by a resurrection. A resurrection that guarantees that the evil that currently presides in the world will ultimately be defeated. A resurrection that guarantees a day when all things will be made new.

Without a resurrection, today would not be a good Friday, no, today would be just another day, a day when we remember the life of a man who duped us all, a man that was either delusional or the epitome of narcissism.

Today’s goodness comes from the mercy and the grace of the One who laid down his life and took it back up again. Reflect on the cross, rejoice in the resurrection, it means that today is indeed a “good” Friday.

Blessings!