Have you wondered why your school is closed today? Perhaps you’ve heard your host family talk about Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified and died on a cross. Doesn’t exactly sound so good, does it?
Christians celebrate Good Friday, not because of what happened on Friday, but because of what happened three days later on Easter Sunday. To really understand this holiday weekend, we need to rewind all the way to beginning, when God created the world and declared it as good along with all that was within it, including the very first man and woman. God desired relationship with His creation, to walk together in perfect love. It was his desire that His people would live forever with him, enjoying what he created.
But Adam and Eve (like us) decided to go their own way apart from God, which broke relationship with God. That’s when sin (brokenness) entered the world. As a result of sin, death also entered the world.
Even though people have turned their backs on God, He still loves us. In fact, the Bible says that God loved us first even while we were still sinners. And because of that love, He made a way for us to come back into relationship with Him by sending His own son, Jesus, who was God and perfect and knew no sin, to take on our sin through His death. Jesus paid the price for each of us.
Yet the story doesn’t end on Good Friday with Jesus’ death.. that would be a sad and hopeless ending! Despite being dead and buried for 3 days, Jesus walked out of the tomb alive, defeating death and sin. Jesus returned to His father in heaven and offers us this same opportunity to have perfect, eternal relationship with God through Jesus.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that anyone who believes in him shall not die but have eternal life.”
What’s so good about Good Friday? Take a look at the video below:
Sincerely,
Tiffanee M. Wright, MA, MPH | Executive Director
AHLI – International Education and Homestay
Students, reach out to me on WeChat if you have any questions about the Easter story!
