It's Friday..... but Sunday's Coming

John 19:31-42

 

 

Jesus died on the Day of Preparation. This was a special day because it was the day before the Passover Sabbath. “Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down”.

 

Heaven forbid that they leave the bodies hanging on the crosses on the Sabbath. After all, these are the same men who hated Jesus enough to have him murdered. Yet they wouldn’t want to do anything to break their precious rules - no bodies on the crosses on the Sabbath. God forbid you wouldn’t want to have that happen.

 

This whole passage is so matter-of-fact. The Jewish leaders ignoring their murderous deeds but upholding their religious rules. Like Jesus had said all along, they were hypocrites, and their actions proved it.

 

The Roman soldiers methodically broke the legs of the two men hanging next to Jesus. They pierced Jesus’ heart with a spear while his limp body hung on the cross - dead. It was methodical because they had probably done it countless times before.

 

Joseph was a covert disciple of Jesus. He and Nicodemus, who had met Jesus at night, took a public stand for him. With Pilate’s permission, they took Jesus’ body and prepared him for burial; placing him in a new tomb. The whole scene is surreal.

 

To think, that only a few days before, Jesus had been given a hero’s welcome to Jerusalem. Now he lay dead in a tomb; deserted by his closest disciples. All seemed lost. Their hopes died with Jesus on the cross.

 

Years ago I heard Tony Campolo speak at a conference and he told a story about a “preach-off” that he had participated in. One of the preachers stood and began slowly, “It’s Friday….. but Sunday’s coming. On Friday, Jesus died and was buried….. but Sunday’s coming”. It was a simple, but powerful message.

 

You can read the words and listen to the sermon at www.easyrew.com/friday-but-sundays-coming/.

 

If we took this message to heart every day, our lives would be changed. It doesn’t

matter what is happening on our Friday, because Sunday is coming. We may be going through the struggle of a lost job, a death in the family, an addiction, a mental illness - but there is hope. That hope comes from what happened on Sunday - the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

It’s Friday….. but Sunday’s coming.