Heard on the bus!

                Here in Effingham County Spring Break has always been connected to Easter. Either before Easter which I have disliked or it has come following Easter. One morning on the bus a student was counting the days until spring break. I thought only employees did that. She recognized that we have Good Friday off followed by a week at spring break. We were all glad of that. She surprised me with what she said next. She said I don’t get Good Friday. I thought for a moment what is there not to get. I answered for Christians it is the day we celebrate when Jesus was crucified on a cross. Maybe the title Good Friday came from God Friday because it sure is not a good thing. Without missing a beat as we slowly rolled through the middle school parking lot another student said but it was good because Jesus died for our sins on that Friday. I agreed, yes it was good for that and then we were at the high school, stopped and they got off.

                The things you hear on the bus! I was stunned by the conversation at all but delighted in the responses. Good Friday, it seems mislabeled. Crucified between two thieves as if a thief, Jesus barely recognizable as human this could not be good. The only good thing it seemed is he died quickly even before his legs were to be broken. Some consolation to die quickly. God is dead! Good Friday whaaaaaaat?

                All of creation had been groaning for relief from sin. In one long planned sacrifice all sin is forgiven. A plan geminated at the first bite of the forbidden fruit in the Garden so long ago, a woman deceived by evil. A plan ever playing out until one bright morning when two woman discover an empty tomb, no body, an angel with instructions. Her task is to go and tell the disciples, a woman now is the first to testify as to the resurrection of Jesus, the HOPE of redemption from the act so long ago.  Now THAT’S a plan.

                This week I have heard some less than wonderful things on the bus. Evidence of the depravity of man, the consequences of sin and the corresponding collateral damage to children. It makes it look like all is lost. It looks like Good Friday was not good at all from any standpoint. Probably just what the followers of Jesus thought as they tried to make sense of what they had witnessed on Good Friday. I just didn’t seem good. It just didn’t seem planned. It just didn’t. Just like dark days, weeks, months, years in our lives. They just don’t seem good. Sure all sin has been purchased by Jesus and dealt with once and for all but I’m still dead! Where is the hope in that?

                The greatest symbol of hope is not the cross but rather the empty tomb. It was empty before the women got there. It was empty before the stone was rolled away. It had been used but now was empty. The stone rolled away not so Jesus could leave but so we could enter in. Our invitation to enter into life eternal with Him.

 

 Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? 56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 HCSB

                I head on the bus, this one day, HOPE. More days need hope in them maybe even heard on the bus!

 Happy Resurrection Day!        

Bro G