It's Friday, Friday...

Today, Facebook reminded me that it is officially "Earth Day", a day devoted to environmental care and concern. However, in my diary and mind, it is Friday - and one that is set aside as "Good Friday". It's the Easter weekend, and here in NZ, a time for a long holiday weekend.

Watching the news, reading comments in the papers and gauging public reaction, it seems many feel this day is no different to any other Friday. Sure, it's enjoyable to have the day off as a holiday, but as one person said on the news tonight "I'm not a Christian, so I should get to do what I like, which is shopping and gardening."

I'm not here to argue about the rights or otherwise of people to enjoy leisure activities like shopping and gardening on Easter weekend. But, I do want to take issue that it's just another Friday.

Just a few weeks ago, an unknown girl called Rebecca Black trended globally on Twitter, her YouTube clip went viral, such that today when I viewed her world-famous song "Friday" over 114 million others had viewed it, with over 300,000 liking it and almost 2.3 million disliking it!

It can hardly be described as lyrical genius with lines such as

"Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday, Today is Friday, Friday..."

"Tomorrow is Saturday,And Sunday comes afterwardsI Don’t want this weekend to end..."

If you've not seen it, you can watch it here.

I think for many people, their attitude towards Good Friday is that its just another Friday, a Good one as it leads to a long weekend. As a Christian, it is so much more than that.

Good Friday remembers the darkest day in history. The day when the God of this Universe, the God who had become one of us, who had lived among us and known the experiences, the highs, the lows, that we face, the day that He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. It remembers the day when the God who made us, the God who loves us, showed us how much He loves us by sacrificing His only Son to take the punishment for our wrong-doing so that we could go free.

For me, Good Friday is anything but just another ordinary day. It is one of true horror, sacrifices, agony, torment and pain. Consider these words that were said around that darkest day, that awful Friday which we know as Good Friday:

“You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” (Pontius Pilate to the Chief Priests & Officials"

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Jesus, speaking of those crucifying Him)

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Jesus)

"It is finished" (Jesus)

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Jesus)

In these simple words, we have a profundity that has lasted through the years. These are words of truth and life, words which show great sadness, but words which offer great hope.

You may ask "Why is Friday so good if it's focused on Jesus' death & His punishment for our sin?"

Last week, in our church, we had a reputable visiting speaker, Dr Tony Campolo. One of the sermons he's best known for is entitled "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" which is pretty remarkable, given that he didn't even preach that sermon himself but tells the story of someone else preaching it! Dr Campolo tells the story of being involved in a service where he was speaking, along with several others, and after he had spoken, the African American Pastor of the church stood to speak and his whole sermon was built around the phrase "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!"

For the Christian, the horrors of Good Friday are exactly that - they are horrible. The awfulness and seriousness of Jesus' death and all it was about can never fully be grasped, but they are all part of the Biblical story, which we know has Easter Sunday coming. As awful as Good Friday is, Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead is remarkable and joyful. In Jesus' resurrection, we have the promise and certainty that death has been beaten, that Jesus really is who He says He is, that sin has been defeated and that Jesus is alive and we have a living hope, a certainty of life beyond the grave.  

Today, we remember that Jesus came, lived, and died so as to be the Saviour of the world. As one poet put it

"It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to be,
That God's own Son should come from heaven, and died to save a child like me."

Today is "Earth Day", "it's Friday, Friday" - today, is Good Friday, when we remember God coming to earth. It is a remarkable, wonderful day, but only because it's Friday and Sunday's coming!