The question surprised me. “Ross, what’s good on Good Friday?” the funeral director asked as he proceeded along Highway 2 towards the cemetery. It was in the middle of Holy Week and I was at my fourth funeral in five days. As most clerics tell you, the relationship you build with your local funeral director is unique. This particular funeral director and I shared a similar sense of humor. In fact, he argued that working together would help bring back “fun” to the funeral. That’s why his serious questions surprised me along the way to the cemetery’s commitment.
“What’s so good on Good Friday?” Before I gathered my thoughts, the director added, “We do a good job together, but I don’t think most families will call a day to fill their loved ones.” So why is the greatest funeral of the church called good for Jesus? ” As we continued our path, the budding trees passed the window. good. Friday.
“Well, I was always a little confused,” I said. “From what I’ve read, the origin of the phrase is a kind of fuzzy. I believe that “Good Friday” evolved from “God’s Friday.” Jesus’ “good” tackles sin and death on the cross.
“Yeah, but what does that mean to you?” pointed out. Seeing some vehicles pulled sideways, I contemplated this new query and continued with respect for our funeral spirits carrying the highway. My mind drifted into one of my favourite sermons of John Wesley, our academic evangelist ancestor in the Methodist tradition. Recalling his argument in the 1760 sermon, “The New Birth,” I said, “I think the goodness of Good Friday for me is a definitive statement that what God did in Jesus is for us. God knows that rejection, rejection, betrayal, and rejection are respectful to us.
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I paused for a moment and agreed to see the director nodded. “As Christians, or at least those trying to understand the meaning of following Jesus, we know that good Friday is what God did for us. But that’s only half of that. Jesus said to Nicodemus. Good Friday is only perfect when we experience what God did for us, but what God is doing to us through the new birth of the Holy Spirit.” I saw the director raise his eyebrows subtly at that comment. “Call it that you do – Newborn, born, spirit has been washed away – but the goodness of Good Friday will be perfect when we know and trust what we have done for us by Jesus and the Holy Spirit.” The director bit us for a while as we whipped along the highway.
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“If that’s true, why don’t I see more spirited people in the church?” he asked flatly. it hurts. Back to Wesley’s witness, I said, “Well, maybe there are a lot of church people born out of water but born out of spirits. People you know, I think the church exists to bring nice people and make them better.
The funeral coach turned off the highway and passed through the cemetery. The long car behind us showed the appearance of a black snake passing through the grass. I reached out to the Bible and the supervisor for his sand vial. The two once again took on our role for their grieving family. When I went outside, I thought that in the week the church was leaning again on Friday, and that in the week that the church calls holy, we might trust that our son will meet God for us, and that the spirit works within us in the empty tomb. If we see us leaning towards that new birth, seeing love and life, God may bless the broken, broken, but broken body of Christ, by calling it good, with the same as that first day.
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Rev. Roth Lockhart is Minister of West Vancouver (BC) United.
This article was first published in the March 2013 issue of Broadview, title.What’s “good” about Good Friday? ”
