It’s Friday But Sunday is Coming

 

 

By Pr. Emmanuel N. ILAGAN

(Inspired by a sermon of the same title attributed to African-American Baptist preacher S.M. Lockridge; also cited by pastor and author Tony Campolo.)

It’s Friday… Jesus has been betrayed by one of his closest friends.  The Jewish Council has convicted him in a hasty and dubious trial.  His disciples have abandoned him, the crowd has rejected him, and Pilate has handed him over to be mocked, tortured and crucified.

 

It’s Friday…and Jesus has died on the cross. It seems death has triumphed.

 

We all have had our Fridays:

the favorite toy that was broken beyond repair;

the young love that was unrequited;

the career we could not pursue;

the loss of a job we have been proud of;

the teenage daughter whose life was snuffed out by an active shooter;

the hurricane that wrecked our home and destroyed all that we owned;

the relationship that never worked out and had to end;

the heart attack that came suddenly;

the passing of a loved one whom we have cherished for many years.

 

We all have had our Fridays…

 

But it’s only Friday and Sunday is coming.

 

And Sunday has come! The big stone has been rolled away. There is only an empty tomb.  Jesus has risen from the dead; the grave could not hold him back.   Christ has defeated sin, death, Satan and hell!

 

Sunday has come! Grace abounds! “Jesus lives again, the earth can breathe again!”

 

Jesus says to us, “I love you and I will walk with you through your Fridays.  Someday I will come again and take you with me to a place where God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.  In that place there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!

 

(Bible readings:  Mark 14:43 to 16:8; Rev. 21:4; 22:20)

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