Good Friday marks the beginning of the most mysterious three days in the history of man. It is the day when the God-man Jesus surrendered himself to a brutal death for no earthly reason. He was innocent of any wrongdoing but He walked up the mountain of Calvary because he had to. God said so and that was the only reason he walked the lonely, horrific walk.
What follows his journey is too grievous for his followers to see. The torture and pain is beyond human comprehension but that’s not what makes Good Friday so extraordinary. Lots of men died on crosses during his day. What makes Jesus’ death so unbelievable is that he chose to do it. He chose it. Mind you, at any given moment during those three hours he hung on the cross, he could have demanded that angels swoop down from heaven and yank the nails out. But he didn’t. He could have pleaded with his Father to stop the agony but he didn’t do that either. What He did was stay- because He knew something that we struggle to understand. We, the ones who hadn’t been yet born needed something. We needed redemption from ourselves. Have we understood that yet?
I don’t think so. And I’m sure we haven’t fully understood what happened three days later even though this is a bit easier to grasp. It is much more unbelievable and yet easier to comprehend. I’m talking about the empty tomb. THE moment that changed the history of mankind. The morning when a small woman named Mary found the tomb where he was buried, empty. That second changed the course of our lives. If we choose to believe that we are the reason for the miracle.
