Human behavior sure does get strange sometimes. Red-faced with fists clenched, a motorist yells and screams like a tantruming toddler at the top of his lungs, spit flying in all directions, as he zooms past a vehicle that is moving far too slow for his temper to tolerate.
Or how about the puzzling scene of a star-struck fan who encounters her favorite star and is immediately reduced to a shaking, weeping, emotional mess in the presence of her teen idol?
But the ultimate display of cultural craziness is that old tradition of the in-person Black Friday, a fortunate casualty of the pandemic response.
Remember Black Friday? It’s hard forget. The insane craze, the ravenous (and even predatorial!) push – yes, a literal PUSH… to acquire… material possessions… at a discount?
You’ve seen the clips online. You’ve watched, stunned and awestruck, to see mayhem and madness take over, as a tsunami of adrenaline-rushed consumers put it all on the line for their desired object.
Call it mob psychology, call it greed and a collapse of cultural decency… or call it the most clever marketing scheme in the history of the world.
It’s Black Friday – the highly profitable day when retailers rake in the dough and hope to go heavily into ‘the black’ in their profit-and-loss for the year.
Unfortunately, what gets lost in the shuffle (or should we say, lost in the stampede) is an even more profitable ‘black Friday,’ which took place over 2000 years ago.
The Original ‘Black’ Friday
Did you know that the Bible says that when Jesus died on the cross on a Friday the sky literally went dark for three hours? In the middle of the afternoon! It was the original ‘black’ Friday.
That day an innocent man named Jesus of Nazareth was deserted by his closest friends, abused by wicked religious leaders, and put to death by professional Roman torturers. It was indeed a dark, black day for Jesus - a fact that He had previously and sadly acknowledged to His persecutors: “this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53, emphasis supplied).
But the deepest darkness for Jesus on that very, very black Friday was not merely the rejection of his closest loved ones or the unimaginable physical pain of being whipped, beaten, pierced, and crucified.
There was an even deeper, darker experience. The Bible tells us that, “about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying… ‘God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46).
What a heart-wrenching cry from the Son of God. We stand in silent wonder at the thought.
What was happening to Jesus? What had he done to deserve this? And was it merely the physical pain that elicited this cry of agony to His Father?
We return to a scene the evening before the crucifixion. Jesus is in a garden called Gethsemane. “And being in agony… His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). This is astounding! Was Jesus’ blood was being shed even before the arrest, torture, and execution began?
We fast-forward to the scene immediately after Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross. His body hangs lifeless on the cross while the others being crucified are yet alive (see John 19:30-34). It would normally take days to eventually die on a cross. What killed Jesus so quickly in mere hours?
Jesus was suffering from an affliction much, much worse than the most excruciating physical pain imaginable. We see it in Gethsemane, we see it on the cross. The Bible says that God, the Father, “delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Or in Jesus’ words, He felt completely “forsaken” by God.
The mind can’t fully grasp the gravity of this; the most intimate union in the universe – that eternal unity which exists between the Almighty Father and His Son – is being ripped apart.
Imagine, for a moment, the person you care most deeply about. Now imagine the feeling that would seize upon you if that person were to completely forsake you. Maybe this has even happened to you. Now multiply that horrific feeling infinitely (because of Jesus’ eternal and infinite union with His Father) and that’s a glimpse into the unimaginable emotional and psychological pain Jesus felt in these moments of darkness. By comparison, His physical wounds were almost as nothing.
The Debt is Cancelled!
Remember that Jesus “committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22) and was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). His life was solely dedicated to healing, teaching, saving – living for others not self. Literally, “in Him there was no sin” (1 John 3:5); He was totally “unblemished and spotless” (1 Peter 1:19).
Yet this fully innocent, selfless Person is the One who “bore our sins in His own body on the tree…” (1 Peter 2:24).
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Again, unimaginable. To have the guilt and shame for ALL of the sins of EVERY person who ever lived laid upon him – it’s inconceivable to us what He must have gone through on that dark day.
So why didn’t He just leave us to the consequences of our own sin? Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it was “for the joy that was set before Him” that He “endured the cross." What joy is this, exactly?
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18, emphasis supplied).
He chose to take our suffering because it brings Him joy to bring us to God.
In other words, it was for our eternal joy and eternal salvation that He endured the darkness of that first, and very dark, ‘black’ Friday.
It was because He loved you so much that He went through this incomprehensible darkness.
Imagine now that you have tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt racked up through foolish Black Friday buying habits. You have no way you can pay it off, and the interest on the debt only compounds. Then, out of the blue, somebody steps forward and takes all of your debt upon his own account and clears you completely of your growing mountain of debt. Imagine the feeling of freedom and gratitude!
Well, an eternally greater debt has been paid! “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Bright Sunday
Sunday morning, “when the sun had risen,” some women went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body with spices (Mark 16:2). They saw two angels “in shining garments” (Luke 24:4) whose “appearance was like lightning” (Matthew 28:3).
Are you catching the brightness of Sunday morning? The darkness of Friday is being dispelled, as these angels proclaim history’s BRIGHTEST news ever, that the Son was risen! Literally. Risen from the dead!
He then appears to the women, appears to the disciples, and finally, to more than 500 eyewitnesses! (See 1 Corinthians 15:6).
Friend, Jesus conquered death for you. Jesus lives forever-more. Jesus is the eternal Friend-of-sinners, your glorified Lord-of-Lords, and our soon-coming Savior.
Now THAT is something worth waking up early for. Investing our money in. Talking about, thinking about… You get the idea. Minus the frenzied screaming and pushing, let’s put it all on the line for Jesus who did so much for us.
Remember: Eternal life with Jesus is a gift infinitely greater than any Christmas or birthday gift. And it’s free for the taking. If we will confess our sins and repent, He will forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). Will you pray to Him now?
Scott Ritsema is the founder and director of Belt of Truth Ministries and Media on the Brain. He lives in Lakeview Michigan with his wife Cami and three amazing children!
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