Day 19

Apr 19, 2019

Completion: Good Friday

Many people ask why the church has called the day that Jesus goes to the cross “Good Friday.” This is a great question and for Jesus, it was not a good Friday, but for us, it was very Good. If Jesus doesn’t go to the Cross on Friday we have no hope, no light and no way back home. Jesus has accepted the call to rescue us, he embraces the challenge of the cross and sees it to completion. It wouldn’t be a good Friday if Sunday doesn’t come. When Sunday finally comes, we find that death had not won. We see that Jesus has defeated Satan, sin and death. When Mary finds the tomb empty there is cry of victory that comes from the darkness of Good Friday – death where is your sting? As we remember the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, maybe we not lose hope, because Sunday is coming.

1 Corinthians 15:50–58
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

REFLECTION:
Good Friday is a day we remember of Christ sacrifice for us. What does Good Friday mean to you?

When you read: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” How does that make you view the victory of Christ?

PRAYER:
Give Thanks today for the pain and shame of the cross Jesus takes for you. Also, praise him for the victory that comes from the empty tomb