On This Good Friday

By: Joanne Viola

Today is April 1st.

Many pranks or practical jokes may be planned and played out over the course of the day.

But my mind flashes back to this day thirty one years ago. It was a pregnancy most unlike my first. Bedridden from the suspected time of being pregnant, it had been both a long, and at the same time quick, nine months.

I just did not "feel right" that morning and upon speaking with my obstetrician, he suggested I come in and be checked. After checking me, he brought me out to my husband, and a very full waiting room, to announce that I should head straight to the hospital as I would be having my baby in about thirty minutes. And then he added, "This is not an April Fool's joke!"

We didn't even have time to go home and retrieve my suitcase which was packed and ready. We were just grateful to make it to the hospital in time.

True to my doctor's word, my son arrived very quickly - all nine pounds two and a half ounces.

Not only was it April 1st, it was Good Friday.

The day set aside to remember Christ's death on the Cross. It is a solemn day to think upon the suffering of our Lord.

"We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
if we endure, we shall also reign with him.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."

(from the Book of Common Prayer, page 282)

While Christ's work was completed that day on the Cross, His work in our lives was just beginning. The process of sanctification is a daily, ongoing work in the life of the believer.

Much the way my son came unexpectedly and unannounced, Christ will one day return in the same manner.

"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call from God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, NLT)

And so today may we think about Christ's death on the Cross,
may we also remember His return,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world! 

Photo by Samuel McGarrigle on Unsplash