Category: EASTER

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I wondered why they called it Good Friday.  What is good about crucifying an unguilty man who did nothing but good all his life? And  even more – who is ultimately responsible?  Who  did it? A number of answers have been suggested:

 

1.THE JEWISH LEADERS. Jesus was a Jew, and his ministry  had been mainly among Jews. He was  very popular among the common people. But he was disliked by their religious leaders.  They had often been the target of his harshest rebukes as he addressed their hypocrisy.  So they decided to shoot the messenger rather than deal with the message, and they plotted to kill Him.

2.JUDAS ISCARIOT. He offered to help the conspirators with money.  He belonged to Jesus’ band of disciples, but for whatever reason he worked for the enemy. A kiss – the sign of affectionate friendship was the signal he used to identify Jesus to his captors in the darkness of Gethsemane.

3.PONTIUS PILATE, the Roman governor. The Jewish leaders had already condemned Jesus after a sham trial before the High Priest and elders. But they lacked the authority to execute anyone – only the Roman governor could do that. After publicly declaring Jesus innocent of any crime, he sentenced him to death by crucifixion – a death so horrible that Romans never subjected their citizens to it – only foreigners and slaves were executed that way.

4.THE ROMAN SOLDIERS WHO NAILED JESUS TO THE CROSS. Were they simply “following orders” , or did they share in the guilt of killing the Son of God? Perhaps an answer can be found in Jesus’ prayer, Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they do. (Luke 23:4)

Surely a case can be made for the guilt of all of the above.  But when it comes down to it, you and I did it.  It was our sin, and the sin of humanity that brought Jesus to the cross, and the love and obedience of Christ that kept Him there until “IT IS FINISHED”  The Bible says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)

And that’s not all. According to Hebrews 6:6 Jesus is still being crucified today: To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace (NIV) .

Good Friday was not good in the sense that humanity, especially religious humanity showed itself from its worst side that day.  But it was A GOOD DAY because it made available the GOOD NEWS  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Acts 2:21 NIV)

 

 

 

Easter is not cancelled.  Come to think of it, that has been tried before, in fact right from the start. After Jesus had been buried, the religious leaders of the day persuaded Pilate to post guards outside of Jesus’ tomb because “Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell people that he has been raised from the dead”. (Matthew 27:64 NIV) But of course despite the efforts to “make the tomb as secure as you know how” the tomb was guarded in vain.  No power in the universe could keep Jesus in the tomb.  He came out of it, just as He had said.

In the first century of Christianity others tried suppressing the message of the Risen Christ.  Roman emperors like Nero and Diocletian and others ruthlessly persecuted and put to death many of the early Christians.  But they could neither stop the message of the Resurrection, nor the spread of that message and the growth of the movement that became Christianity. And in the twentieth century,  the 60 years of communism also failed to cancel Easter.

In the former Soviet Union, atheism was the official state religion.  I remember as a child learning about the “underground church” in the various Russian states.  Mao Tse Tung in China also persecuted Christians with a vengeance.

In 2020 Easter is very different, but it is not cancelled.  There is no Easter Parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Families will not (should not) be gathering for big Easter dinners. There are no new clothes for people to show off at Easter services.  In fact church buildings  all over the world are closed.  But that cannot cancel Easter.  Christians all over the globe are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ, and worshipping the Risen Christ.  The church, that I currently serve is closed like all others.  But we had an Easter service this morning via teleconference.  We sang. We prayed. And for the first time in my life I preached a sermon over the telephone to a grateful congregation.

Come to think of it, the Christian church has always flourished while operating underground.  In the first century, believers gathered in burial grounds, underground catacombs to worship unseen by others.  Today tourists can go there, and view the graffiti left behind by those early worshipers. And during the communist regimes, underground churches secretly met.  Those cells of Christians later became thriving churches when the restrictions were lifted.  I’m not going to speculate on what the global church will look like when we come out of this pandemic, though many are doing just that.

During the covid-19 pandemic many events and activities had to be cancelled.  Yes, public in person church services have been cancelled for weeks, and will remain so for an undetermined time to come.  But Easter can never be cancelled.  In fact church can never be “cancelled”. The church continues to do what the Christian church does.  We worship. We care for one another and for those in need of help. We pray for one another, for people who are sick and in need, for a world in crisis. And we proclaim the good news  that Jesus is the hope of this world. No pandemic can stop us from doing that. Don’t be fooled.  Easter is not and will never be cancelled!