The somber tone of Good Friday is upon us once again. As Christian followers of Jesus, we recall the journey Jesus takes from the Mount of Olives to Golgotha - where the cross sits upon the hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem.
This part of the journey is brutal in its telling and I have to say, if it was a story of pain and suffering alone, no wonder people look strangely at Christians and wonder, "Why do we call it Good?" In the darkness of our "Sunday School rooms" the children would watch the story of Jesus and his final walk to the cross. I cried from start to finish!
But recently as I have struggled with this question,
All Saints Anglican Church I have discovered why it is indeed "Good" news for all.
From the beginning of his life, even at the tender age of 12, Jesus seemed to know what it was that he was called to do.
"I must be about my Father's work," Jesus tells his parents after reuniting with them after they had gone three days journey. That "work" was to bring God's way to the world. "... God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." That's our work, but it could only begin when Jesus accomplished his work - on the cross. Jesus goes before us in the work of reconciling the world to himself.
If we chose to walk the path that the world would choose, we'd be empty at the end of our journey. But we live with faith and hope, because even through this death comes new life ... and that's Good News.
