‘Good’ Friday

Is it really a ‘good’ Friday?

Well yeah, it is a Good Friday.

It really is good.

That’s what ‘Louise’ said in the middle of a service at the Dale last Sunday. Erinn, my wife, was telling people what was going to happen during Holy Week and Louise said this aloud in response to what was being said about happenings on Good Friday. She’s kind of the elder stateswoman, the wise sage, of the congregation at the Dale. She frequently spurts out words of wisdom worth paying attention to.

Today is the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s called Good Friday. It’s the day when He was mocked, beaten, tortured, stabbed, spit on, punched, kicked, made to carry his own cross, spiked to that cross through his hands and feet, and left on there to bleed out and finally die.

He was butchered.

He was murdered.

Yet during all of that persecution He simply prayed that God would forgive the people that were doing this, because they didn’t know what they were doing. Because by dying, even though the murderers had no idea about this, He set the stage for people to be able to access God through him instead of through a mediator or through some kind of sacrifices. He showed the way to God by his own death. He demonstrated that, because we know the end of the this story, in order to get to Easter you have to go through Good Friday first.

Today the Good Friday scripture passages made me think of some of the horrific deaths that I have been close to over the years. I remembered some of the people I got close to at Gateway who brutally died.  One guy was running from the cops because he was caught stealing something in a corner store. He was jumping from one rooftop to another but didn’t quite make it, He fell on top of a spiked picket fence and died instantly in a horrific, brutal way.

That doesn’t sound like much of a good day for him. But Jesus knew what it was like to be pierced with spikes and to bleed out. Jesus paid a price for him which I’m hoping, I’m praying, I’m depending on,  so that his story did not end on that picket fence but at Easter.

Louise: is it really a good Friday?

Well yeah, it is a good Friday.

It really is good.

Paul was lying on a park bench in Moss Park. Some army reservists, coming home from a party in their drunken state, saw him on the bench and thought it would be fun to beat him up. They kicked and punched and tossed him around until they were done. He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he died of his injuries. He was murdered. He had our business card in his pocket so our staff went there to identify his body. We did his funeral. It was horrible to have to live through that. Jesus knows what it’s like to be beaten and pummeled and murdered for no good reason. He knows what it’s like to be Paul. He gives us hope that Paul’s murder will not be the end of his story but that Easter is coming for him.

Louise: is it really a ‘good’ Friday?

Well yeah, it is a Good Friday.

It really is good.

Hank was walking across Queen Street one day. He wasn’t looking and was hit by a street car. He was crushed and died. He had our business card in his pocket so one of our staff had to go and identify his disfigured body at the scene.

Jesus knows what it’s like to have been crushed in an unfair way. He knows what it’s like to be Hank. And He gives us hope that being killed by a street car is not the end of Hank’s story.Easter is coming for him.

Louise: is it really a ‘good’ Friday?

Well yeah, it is a good Friday.

It really is good.

I’m living my life in a wheelchair now. MS continues to ravage my body. I suspect that my death will not be an easy one. Some days I hope that I don’t have to go through a long and agonizing and humiliating death of losing myself. But I don’t really know.  Jesus gives me hope that He also knows what it’s like to go through an agonizing and humiliating death. Jesus knows what it’s like to be going through what I am going through. He gives me hope that the end of my story won’t be Good Friday but Easter.  Louise, who lives in Toronto Community Housing and comes to Dale activities riding a mobility scooter, often reaches out and takes my hand and tells me how thankful she is for me and the way that I am dealing with my health issues. She gives me so much encouragement quite often. And today she is encouraging and teaching me once again.

Louise: is it really a ‘good’ Friday?

Well yeah, it is a good Friday.

It really is good!