Friday, Black Friday

This is that crazy day when Americans seem to forget everything they thought or said yesterday about gratitude, and instead take delight in pushing and shoving their way through malls and shops in order to save a few dollars.  The older I get, the less I enjoy shopping in crowded stores.  Shopping, yes.  Crowds, not so much.  I prefer to leisurely work my way through the mall.  So on this Black Friday, you will find me nowhere near a mall or a store!  I might do some on-line shopping later, but I fully intend to stay right here at home for the entire day!

My day is pretty full anyway.  I'm busy with final preparations for our long-anticipated trip to Israel.  It's a day full of final loads of laundry.  Making my lists and checking them twice....or three times!  Final house cleaning before being away for a couple of weeks.

On this Friday morning as I'm thinking about walking where Jesus walked, my thoughts have turned to another Friday some two thousand years ago. And as I reflect on that particular Friday, I'm remembering an Easter musical from years past entitled "Then Came Sunday" which chronicled the week between what we now know as Palm Sunday and Easter.  From Hosanna to He Is Risen.  On this Friday morning, I can almost hear the narrator speak the lines "Friday.  Dark Friday."  Truly that was a "black Friday".

"And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.........And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.......And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit,' and having said this, He breathed His last."  (Luke 23:33,44-46 NASB)

The good news is......that isn't the end of the story!  Then came Sunday!

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing spices which they had prepared.  And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus."  (Luke 23:1-3 NASB)

As I look forward to being in Israel again in just a few days, one of the places I'm excited to visit again is the Garden Tomb, the site many Christians believe is the place where Jesus was buried following His crucifixion. 

There are also those who believe He was buried at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  While we cannot know with absolute certainty, in my mind it really doesn't matter.  In either case, the tomb is empty!  And that is reason for Thanksgiving!!