What does Good Friday have to do with Easter?

It has everything to do with it. For without the resurrection, cross is bondage. It is death and pain for there would have been no victory over evil without the resurrection!

There were many “Messiahs” in the 1st century striving to free Israel from bondage – only they all ended at a cross. They died.

The difference with Jesus is that He rose again!!!

St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17:

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

But because of the resurrection – because Jesus Christ rose from the grave – sin, evil, injustice, shame, pain, addictions, and death itself has been defeated. And this, my friends, was the reason Jesus came to walk this world with us!

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. -1 John 8b

Jesus came so that we may live! To quote the old fisherman:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. -1 Peter 3: 3-5

It was because of God’s great mercy that through the resurrection of Jesus we have a new live – a life of mercy, grace and love.

You see, mercy triumphs over judgment!

We don’t talk much about mercy these days as it is not natural. You see, mercy is compassion towards someone who does not deserve it. It is unmerited favor and blessing instead of anger, revenge and pain.

God’s mercy triumphs over judgments for while we were dead in our sins, held captive to evil and injustice – while we were in that undeserving state – Jesus came and died on the cross for us as a ransom to set us free.

We are free!!

God’s mercy triumphs over judgment of ourselves – beat ourselves up – God’s mercy tells us that because He has won the victory we have been set free from that bondage of shame.

Judgment of others against us – what we wear, our social standing – has been broken.  We can cry “Abba Father” – we have children of the Lord most high.  His mercy is everlasting.

Mercy gives us freedom from the judgment of God.  Good Friday is “good” because it leads to Easter. The cross is powerful because Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

Now that we are free, we must ask ourselves what kind of people do we want to be known for?

Those of us who follow Jesus Christ must be known for the mercy and grace and love of God.  Jesus himself said we should be known by our love for one another – not for our church building, doctrine, theology, clothes we wear, or things we do.  Love is so important – it was the love of God that brought Jesus to the Cross!  (John 3:16)  Jesus said he came as a ransom for many – because of his love.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. –Hebrews 9:14-15

Jesus, my King and, I pray, your King, said that those who Him are to known for their love for each other. We who follow Jesus have been called to be known to the community around as a people of mercy, grace and love.

Mercy triumphs over judgment; the cross and the resurrection.