From the Editor: It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Comin’

Jim Nelson

Good Friday is the most holy day in the liturgical year. It is the Christian version of Yom Kippur: our Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was not and is not a feast day. In fact it is the only day in the scriptures on which God commands the people to fast, “it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the Lord’s offering by fire.” (Leviticus 23:27b) If you sacrifice to the Lord on that day in order to atone for all of your sins, they will be forgiven.On Good Friday Jesus was sacrificed upon the cross. He became for us a sacrifice to God so that all our sins could be forgiven.

For the ancient Israelites and for us today, this is not a day of celebration but a day of solemn remembrance of all the sins we have committed over the past year: intentionally or unintentionally. It is also a day to remember the sacrifice made on our behalf.Too many of us take that sacrifice for granted. We no longer remember what dying on the cross meant. We have so romanticized the event that we forget the pain and suffering Jesus endured. We no longer hear the sound of the lash tearing into the flesh of his back. Nor do we feel the rough splintered wood of the cross, which continued to rub against those wounds. Nor do we see the blood from the thorns driven into his head running down his face, mixing with the sweat and the dust and coagulating in his beard.

How many of us would willingly endure such suffering so that others might have life and have it abundantly?We need to honor that sacrifice. The highest attendance day of the year should be Good Friday, not Easter Sunday. Sure the resurrection is something to celebrate. We need to shout Hallelujah on Easter, recognizing his triumph over death. But too often we only want to focus on the Good News at the end, and not the suffering on the cross that preceded it.We also need to honor that sacrifice by how we live our lives. We need to ensure that Jesus did not die in vain merely so we could go on sinning in the world. We need to live our lives abundantly, and help others to do the same.

Today, Good Friday, should be a day of fasting. The discomfort from the hunger we feel is nothing compared to Jesus’s suffering on the cross. Today should be a day of quiet solitude and reflection. Read the letters of Paul, who had a well-defined theology of the cross. Read the story of the crucifixion in each of the Gospels. Seek once again the grace and the forgiveness of God. Mourn again this Friday and Saturday in unity with the disciples of Jesus who had just seen their leader executed, and worried if they might be next.Only by going through the crucifixion, only by focusing on the cross can we truly rejoice on Easter Sunday morning when we celebrate the empty tomb, and life everlasting. Only then will be able to truly understand those words made famous by Tony Campolo, in his book It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Comin’.