Good Friday

It’s Friday

It’s Friday.

It’s the day hope died on a cross.

For the last three years, hope was on the rise. He wasn’t exactly like the Messiah anyone expected, but He was saying & doing things no one could explain. He had to be from God. He had to be the One. Or at least, that’s what they thought. But that was before today. That was before they saw him literally nailed to a cross, hang his head & breath his last.

Now, hope is lost. Hope has died.

What now?

Maybe you’ve experienced what this feels like. Maybe you know what it feels like to lose hope. To experience the darkness of hopelessness. Maybe you feel it now. Far from God. Isolated. Anxious. Lost. Afraid. Hopeless.

You are not alone.

It’s Friday.

For somebody somewhere, it’s Friday.

Maybe for you, it’s Friday.

It’s a dark day. It’s another hope-less day. You’ve gone through the motions & you’re prepared to do it all over again tomorrow.

And there will be news of another tragedy. Another outbreak. Another act of violence. Another lost relationship. Another lost job. And the list goes on.

Things won’t go the way they should.

Fear will creep in.

Anxiety will rise.

What will happen next?

What do you do on Friday? What do you do when you lose hope? What do you do when hope dies on a cross?

Remember.

That’s right. Remember.

Those women who would come to the tomb first on Sunday were told to remember the words of Jesus before he died.

What words?

Those words that foretold exactly what was going to happen.

When Jesus said, before Friday ever came, that he would suffer & die & then rise again on the third day.

When Jesus said, before Friday, to take heart because he had overcome the world.

When Jesus said, before Friday, that those who would believe in him would never die.

When Jesus said, before Friday, that he was the resurrection & the life.

And O, he said so much more.

But today is Friday. It’s a dark day. But don’t lose hope today. Instead, remember. Remember all the words of Jesus before Friday.

Because even after the darkest Friday there is a Sunday that is coming.

Because hope didn’t die today, Jesus did.

Hope? Hope is on the rise.