The Peace of Good Friday

I am sometimes dismayed (ironically) that there is so much grief on Good Friday. Attending Good Friday services feels like a few funerals I have been too. I suppose that is what Good Friday has become in some places.

But the downcast faces and the grim countenances in the pews belie the triumph that Good Friday marks.

Or, rather, begins to mark. If the crucifixion of Jesus were merely the ending then I would understand the tone. The reality is that this holy day does not end on Saturday, but continues to Sunday to culminate in the celebration of the Resurrection.

Good Friday is the beginning of the testament that ends on Easter. This testament is the combined testament of God's justice, power and hope. God's sense of justice is satisfied with the only possible sacrifice. God's power is demonstrated in the raising of the dead. God gives us hope that eternal death will not overcome us.

In the Carpetblog, we tend to note the bad things in this world—mostly about events that point to the lack of peace in the world around us. But each of us who contribute to the Carpetblog knows that it is only God who brings true peace. Jesus did not come to bring physical peace to the world—at least not until eternity comes—but to bring spiritual peace to the people.

May Easter give to you this peace in these troubled times.