They killed Jesus, Dead, they killed him, Good

Good Friday we call it. And the resurrection happened. But Saturday never rates a mention. Why is this?

Saturday, we may know for sure; Jesus was killed, dead.

And this was GOOD NEWS. It IS good news. Dead. Not alive anymore. Kaput. John 19:33 says it plainly:

“But when [the Roman soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead…”

They killed Jesus, dead.

He wasn’t living any longer. The time of life had passed. He was gone.

Anyone who wants to discredit the Christian faith will  attempt to install doubt over the fact of Jesus’ death. 

If Jesus didn’t die, he didn’t die as payment for humankind’s sin. 

If Jesus didn’t die, he could not be resurrected. 

If Jesus didn’t die, he did not overcome death.

But Jesus DID die.

And Saturday was a day when he was DEAD. For the whole day. The most comprehensive victory of Creator over evil, of his creation over evil, had taken place. History. Done. Finished.

God’s eternal plan, his work of salvific art, accomplished. Nothing left to do. The enemy vanquished.

I don’t know about you, but in my case, that’s occurred on this earth, in an irrefutably physical way, about 1,936 years before I was even conceived. Done.

Nothing at all could I add to it before I was born. My existence changes nothing. That Easter Saturday, the proof.

How on earth do we wrap our heads and hearts around this GOD who would stoop to live as we live; to teach us what is kept for us in Scripture; to show us his character in what he did and who he healed, how and why; to experience all of the pain we might; the betrayal, the scourging, the mocking, the universal rejection?

They killed Jesus, dead.

They killed him, good.

It is GOOD. And what was GOOD remains so. It’s GOOD on Saturday; Sunday’s still coming.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash