I think we miss the profoundness of this weekend when our celebration ceases with the close of the weekend, and I think we might miss it even more when our celebration stops at the cross. Don’t get me wrong, the cross is, without a doubt, the single greatest event to have ever occurred and the greatest event that will ever occur. In his book Paradoxology, Krish Kandiah makes these profound statements about the cross:
If ever there was a paradoxical moment in time, it was three o’clock on that Friday afternoon outside the city of Jerusalem, atop a hill that had been given the nickname ‘the Place of the Skull’. It was the middle of the day, and yet it became the middle of the night. It was humanity’s darkest hour, and yet divine love never shone brighter. An innocent man had been found guilty and was being given his – or, rather, everyone else’s – punishment. A man screamed out to God, asking why he had been abandoned, and at the same time the curtain in the temple was ripped open, welcoming the world into the very presence of God. The death and distress of the one offered life and hope to the many. To the world, it looked like utter defeat, but in fact it was God’s greatest victory. In this picture of abject weakness, the power of God is revealed.
When Jesus submitted himself to the barbarity of the cross, he did not outdo evil, he undid evil. He triumphed over the powers of evil at the cross by disarming them, not outgunning them. He was cancelling the debt, not collecting it.
The depth and breadth of human sin is so vast that we had to have a divine substitute to give us the ability to live a life free from the shackles of sin and shame. Without the precise substitution of Jesus for human sin, we wouldn’t have a fighting chance at eternal life with Him. This is the basis of Christianity and the essence of the good news: that in and through Jesus’ perfecting work on the cross, powered and seen through by our gracious, loving, and holy father, we might be made new creations.
But, sometimes, we talk about the immense love poured out on the cross and we forget that the cross isn’t where it ended. Yes, as Dr. Kandiah states, Jesus successfully “undid evil” on the cross, but after a long weekend of celebration from the Romans and mourning from His followers, Jesus rose victorious!!
Jesus’ resurrection is what makes Christianity different from any other religious movement to have ever occurred. We learn in Acts 5 that other men had risen up claiming to be the messiah. They had all gained a following, but after their deaths, their followers eventually fizzled out. However, it was made obvious that things were different in Jesus’ case when we learn in Acts that the numbers of believers increased daily.
Things are different because we do not serve a messiah who just died, but rather, one who died and was so powerful that the grave could not hold Him. When He walked out of that tomb nearly 2000 years ago, everything changed. When the stone was rolled away, Our Savior defeated sin and death forever!!!
So, what does this mean for us?
Desmond Tutu said this about modern Christians: “We are a Resurrection people living in a Good Friday world.”
On Good Friday it looked like it was all over. There was no hope; it was all dark; it was all broken. And, as unfortunate as it is, this is mimicked in our world today. We live in a dark, hopeless, broken world, but we as believers are those who serve a resurrected King, and through Him, we are more than conquerors!
Let’s start living like it. Let us always remember that we serve a risen Savior, and because of Him, we too are dead to our old lives and risen again. Let this Good News be too good to not share every chance we get. Let the testimony of how our risen King freed us of our chains to sin be a resounding cry from both the mountaintops and the valleys of this life. Let this weekend not stop when Monday comes; let’s live our life remembering that He is risen!!
