Ser Camaris 
Chief of Sinners
Posts: 1772
(3/25/05 5:39 am)
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IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMIN'!
IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMIN'! - Of all the Christian feasts, festivals and holy days, it is Good Friday that has always meant the most to me. The other big day, Christmas, is a wonderful day of family and celebration (and , need I add, good food) but, to me, Good Friday is far more significant. It is the most important day of all, because what it represents is the pivot on which history turns, the end of one era and the beginning of something new. It is Good Friday that we dwell on the cost of all the good things that God has given us, and I cannot help but be humbled by that. This year, some events have really made me sit down and think, and I like to work out my thoughts by writing. I thought I might share those thoughts, and hope that you forgive if it doesn't make much sense.
It seems almost blasphemy to call it Good Friday. After all, we are talking about a barbaric, squalid execution of a humble carpenter, a criminal's death for the only person in our entire history who could honestly claim innocence of any crime against either God or man. It is a death that we have sanitised and watered down, as we talk of the glory of the Resurrection, or throw around words like "flogged" or "scourged" without thinking beyond the concept to the tattered flesh they convey. Whatever criticisms that may be levelled at Mel Gibson's Passion, it is one of the few honest portrayals of the level of suffering Christ endured leading up to that dark day on Golgotha.
Don't get me wrong, I can understand why we do call it Good Friday. We know how the story ends. When we see Christ on the Cross, we also see the empty Cross. We know that after Golgotha comes Pentecost. We know about the women in the garden, the sight of the rolled away stone. We know what Christ's death on the Cross did for us, and how it was that Good Friday that saw man and God reconciled. With the benefit of hindsight we can afford to call that day good. But, today I couldn't help thinking what it would have been like to endure that day without knowing how it was going to turn. Imagine being a follower of Jesus on that day. Would you have called it Good then?
For a start, imagine how it would have been for one of the disciples. After all the highs of Jesus' ministry, seeing the lame walk, the blind see and even the dead rise I am sure that there would have been a feeling of being part of something special and it would not have been hard to believe that Jesus' claims were true, after all. The high of the triumphant procession into Jerusalem would have simply capped it off. But, then in the space of a few days everything seemed to come crashing down in a heap. First, a betrayal by your finance chief and the arrest of your leader. And not only is your leader arrested, he doesn't even put up a fight. Perhaps that would be when the first doubts set in, after all the Jewish idea of a the Messiah was someone who would run the Romans out of Israel and restore it to Davidic glory. Or it might have been watching the unedifying spectacle of the Messiah's right hand man denying he had ever known him, and watching the apostles flee for their lives. However, I am sure that there still would have been hope at this point. Jesus was still alive and still able to call down a legion of angels and pull down the walls of the temple around the High Priest's ears.
Even though most idealistic of the disciples, though, would have seen their hopes die with Jesus on the Cross. Truly, that would have been the darkest moment of all. Perhaps the feelings would have been a feeling of betrayal, that for all His promises Jesus had let them down, perhaps sorrow at the hideous death of such a great man, but despair would have been chief of all. Because, that really did seem the end. There was no heir apparent to pick up the torch and carry it, no structure left to keep the work going. It really was the end. It is hard to imagine the depth of feeling they would have been going through. The old saying, it is always darkest before the dawn, comes to mind but as far as any of the disciples could know there was going to be no dawn.
But, there would have been some very different feelings amongst some others. For Satan, I can only imagine the sense of triumph. Not only had he seen God's plan to undo the damage done in the Garden of Eden thwarted, but it had ended with the beloved Son of God hanging from a cross like a common criminal, spat upon and reviled. And with Him died any hope for humanity to return to a relationship with God and spend eternity with Him. Not bad for a weekend's work!
One of my favourite scenes from the fantasy series The Lord of the Rings occurs during the siege of the City of Minas Tirith. The gates of the city have been breached, the massed armies of the Enemy are poised to annihilate the outnumbered warriors of Gondor. At the gates, Gandalf faces the Enemy's chief servant, the Witch King of Angmar who mocks him with promises of defeat and breaks his staff. All is darkness, there is no hope left. If Gondor falls, man's last hope is gone. All of a sudden, a @#%$ crows and dawn breaks. And with first light of dawn comes the sound of horns as the Riders of Rohan charge. This is the beginning of the turning of the tide. It is a powerful moment, and one that has always stuck with me for some strange reason.
And, this is where we find ourselves on Good Friday. Darkness has fallen. Hope has died. But, thankfully, that is not how the story ends. Dawn on Sunday brings an amazing miracle that marks the turning of the tide for all of humanity. Imagine the joy of the disciples when they found that Jesus was alive, that He had defeated death. Imagine the rage and chagrin of the enemy when he discovered that what he had thought was victory is in fact his greatest defeat and his best laid plans had been confounded.
How many times, I wonder, do we find ourselves in a situation where it seems as if there is no hope that any good can come out of it, where we can see no possible way out of the mess we find ourselves in? Like the disciples, it is often hard for us to see beyond our Good Friday to what is waiting on Easter Sunday. But, as Tony Campolo talks about in the book of the same name, it may be Friday but Sunday's coming. As Christians we need to learn to hold onto that promise, and even in the darkest of times hold onto the knowledge that God always comes through. If God could turn Good Friday into Easter Sunday, how much more can He do with our dark days?
At the moment we are constantly reading in the news of a situation where it seems like there is no hope. As we speak, a woman called Terri Schiavo is slowly starving to death. This is a situation where it is very hard to believe that the conclusion is anything but inevitable. The last legal recourse has been exhausted and it seems that even the President cannot save her. Her physical condition has begun to decline and time is running out. But, I think that we need to have faith that even in this God can do something amazing. It may be that He is going to call Terri to Him, I don't know. But, I believe that in this situation that we can see no good in, He can use it for good. How, I don't know. But, I have faith.
As we prepare for the joyous day that is Easter Sunday, and celebrate the miracle of the Resurrection we need to remember that it was not possible without Good Friday. In the song Never Forget the Cross, punk band One Bad Pig sing:
There´s no victory gained without no loss
No resurrection without no cross
No golden crown without no nails
Trade my life for a Love that never fails
And they are right. That is why Good Friday is the day of days for me in the Christian calendar.
I hope that you all have a Blessed Easter, and that the holiday long weekend is spent with family and friends and full of good cheer. But, I hope that we all spend a moment to dwell on the price that was paid for each of us, and that we can all spare a prayer for Terri and her family.
God is the Lord, of Angels, and of Men, - and of Elves. -J.R.R. Tolkien
We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God.- C.S. Lewis
Ser Camaris, if you were a woman, I'd take you out myself.-Lord Manwoody 3/27/02 |
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