NO EASTER SUNDAY WITHOUT GOOD FRIDAY

Without Friday, Easter Sunday doesn’t make sense. Like a punch line without a joke, it falls flat.  Without Sunday, Good Friday isn’t that good. It’s a tragic ending that confirms the futility and finality of death.

Together, they are the good news story we all need.

Many look at the mess the world is in and feel abandoned by God. Where is God in the midst of suffering?  Look there, on the cross. When life is unfair and evil is winning, look at the cross. Emmanuel, God with us, is not just a Christmas theme. The incarnation finds its fullest expression on Good Friday. God hangs naked with us. Misunderstood. Mistreated. Suffering. Dying. Dead.

But that’s not the end of the story. Jesus comes back. In the surprise ending he told everyone about but they never expected, the very dead Jesus doesn’t stay that way. Evil and death don’t have the final word. The corrupt powers that abuse and accuse will not win. Easter Sunday reminds us that there is always hope, even when the worst happens. The Son of God won’t stay dead and neither will you.

Good Friday and Easter are a package deal. You don’t get one without the other. Without the cross, God doesn’t fully embrace our humanity in all its tragic ugliness and pain. Without the resurrection, he leaves us there.

Join us Friday at 7 PM and Sunday at 8, 9:15 or 11:15. In person or live-streamed on YouTube.