Good Friday is a day we remember death. The day affects everyone because death affects everyone. Fifty-five million people a year die. That’s about a hundred and five a minute. That’s two people every second. The author of Hebrews pointed out the brutal fact that it is appointed to every person to die once (Heb. 9:27). Death does not care your color or creed. Death does not care about your economic status. It does not care about your religion, your ideology, or your age. Death is an enemy we must all face, a disease by which we are all plagued. About two thousand years ago, on Good Friday, a man who promised true life, a man named Jesus, died. Why would we call that Friday good?
We call that Friday good because there is a better Sunday. That was the day Jesus came back from the dead. He was resurrected. When that resurrection happened it changed EVERYTHING! People who followed certain Jewish traditions their entire life changed almost overnight. They started living differently and teaching a different message. The Christian church sprang up, seemingly out of nowhere. Staunch opponents of Jesus changed their minds and were willing to die for his message. Because of this resurrection, the Roman government was greatly disrupted. The course of history was changed, and a movement was started that continues on to this day. The resurrection has affected everything and everyone. Now we have a victor over our enemy called death. We have a cure for our disease. Jesus promised, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live“ (John 11:25). This is a message for you today. Though we all still deal with death, we have an answer for it . . . Jesus! So, let this Friday be a reminder to you that for those in Christ death is temporary. Fix your eyes on him and let this Friday truly be Good!
Pastor Josh