Easter is followed by Good Friday

This year, Good Friday seems to have followed Easter. Good Friday, the day we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. Good Friday is about death, while Easter is the celebration of the joy of resurrection.

The natural order of things for Christians is not that we move from life to death, but that we move from death to life. We move from Jesus’ death on Good Friday to his resurrection on Easter. Having so much news of death follow Easter has seemed to reverse the process. For just on the heels of Easter, our whole nation seemed to be collectively holding its breath waiting for two deaths—Terry Schiavo and John Paul II. Then the news came just days apart, first Terry, then the Pope, had died. We moved from the joy of resurrection to the reality of death.

Much has been written about both of these deaths and I can add nothing significant to those words in this brief column. However, such public deaths following Easter have replaced the joy of resurrection with grief and as each of us must face grief it is worthy of comment here.

We must acknowledge that the very public outpouring of grief for these two deaths has been only a tiny portion of the grief experienced these past two weeks. For the day after Easter, 2,000 died in earthquake that came as an aftershock from the quake that caused December’s tsunami. The car bombings have continued in Iraq. And beyond these deaths in the news, thousands of people have lived through very personal tragedies as those they love have died in these last two weeks overshadowed by news of Terry Schiavo and John Paul II.

In life, we are surrounded by death. It is an ongoing fact of life that all eventually die. Some die young and tragically, others after a long, full life, but all die. What does the length of our days look like from God’s perspective?

The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote, “Is not our span of life infinitesimal in comparison to eternity, even if it is extended by ten years?” Pascal himself lived a shorter life than he must have imagined for himself when he penned that line. The 17^th century philosopher, died at the age of 39 leaving his great work “Pensées” as unfinished notes. His own life is a good example of what he wrote, for if Pascal had lived to be 49, his life would have been no longer when compared to eternity.  

Pascal was writing about the truth revealed on Easter that we are not finite beings. Our finite and all too short lives have eternal significance as the salvation God gives us is forever. God’s deliverance will never be ended.  

Jesus kept this eternal significance at the forefront of his ministry. That is why Jesus got exasperated with people sometimes. The people with whom he lived and to whom he ministered were often focused on an earth-bound view of life, while Jesus was constantly trying to get them to see things from a heavenly perspective. This is why when someone would come to Jesus for healing, sometimes he would forgive their sins, then heal as a sign that they had indeed been forgiven.  

For Jesus, coming to a new birth, through a relationship with God, mattered more than physical healing. Jesus knew the people he healed would get sick again. Those he raised from the dead, like his friend Lazarus, would one day die again. However, all who came into a saving relationship with God through him would die only to gain new life for all eternity. From that perspective, the healing of the heart, mind, and soul mattered so much more than merely healing the body alone. 

Jesus concerned his ministry with eternal matters. This is why Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33 NIV). 

When you come into a relationship with God, that relationship cannot be broken by the power of death. Paul wrote that neither life nor death could separate us from the love of God. Nothing can separate you from God’s love.

Look at the world from God’s perspective and see that God is with those who die after that great transition. God can still be present to Terry Schiavo, to John Paul II and to all those who have died since Easter. God created them and you for eternity.

Every Easter is followed by Good Friday. Death is ever present. Yet as Christians we proclaim our Easter faith in the face of death. We can face death with the certainty that life will follow death as surely as death follows life. This is the message of both Easter and Good Friday.

So, yes we Christians mourn. We grieve deeply for those who we love who have died. Even Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. But we mourn as a people with hope. For Jesus told his followers that he came so that they might have life and have it abundantly. Knowing that God’s love trumps the power of death gives you the power to sing Alleluia even at the grave.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)

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