It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!

It’s Friday. Mary’s crying. Peter’s denying. But Sunday is coming.

It’s Friday. The leaders are chiding. The disciples are hiding. But Sunday’s
coming.
It’s Friday. The soldiers are beating. Jesus is bleeding. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is walking, stumbling, falling. The crowd is gawking,
grumbling, calling. But Sunday is coming.

It’s Friday. Nails are driven. “Father forgive them.” It’s Friday, but Sunday’s
coming.

It’s Friday. Death is winning. Satan is grinning. They don’t know. It’s Friday,
but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. The earth is shaken. My God, forsaken. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. His Spirit is lifted. Salvation is gifted. And Sunday is coming.
(This is my adaptation of a famous sermon by Dr. Tony Campolo.)

It’s Friday. Jesus died a long, slow painful death.

Death by crucifixion was death by suffication. In order to exhale, Jesus had to
raise himself up pushing with his legs and driving his wound down against the nail.
His arm and leg muscles are camping. He does this for as long as he can and then
he collapses back down again hanging by his wrists until his lungs fill with carbon
dioxide again and he can’t breathe and has to push himself up again. Jesus repeats
this process until he no longer can.

Jesus endured this for us. It was our sins that he bore – our sufferings that he
endured.

He learned about human suffering from the inside out. He experienced everything
and we do as human beings. He was betrayed, condemned, abandoned, denied,
judged, beaten, burdened, and killed. But that’s not the end – Sunday’s coming.

She is a young woman and she thought that he was “the one.” But the relationship
has ended and her dreams of what her life would be lay shattered on the ground.

She needs to know that Sunday’s coming.

Thirty-four years he worked for that company. He gave them the best years of his
life. At times he even sacrificed time with his wife and children because it was
what the company needed. Today he got a pink slip. It’s Friday. Sunday’s
coming.

Sixty-three years they were together as husband and wife and now she is alone.
The emptiness is big and overwhelming at times. She knows that Sunday is
coming, but today it’s Friday.

Our faith is marginalized. People look at us and shake their heads. They put us
down for standing up for life – for the right of an unborn baby to see the light of
day, for the right of an elderly person to the medical care that they need. It’s
Friday. We need to be reminded that Sunday is coming.

Each year, Lent and the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter
Vigil – help us to re-experience the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death
and resurrection is a pattern that repeats itself over and over again in our lives. We
help our children as they experience it for the first time. Games are lost and then
won again. Even the seasons echo this great mystery – the Paschal Mystery – that
under the snow of winter is the seed of spring. We help each other as we
experience it this time. Jobs are lost and then found again. Plans are dashed and
then made again. We have hope because we know that Sunday is coming.
But today – today is Friday.

Today we bring ourselves to the cross of Christ. We come to Jesus who knows our
suffering. He surrendered himself to death for us. He stretched open his arms and
said with his life, “This is how much I love you! You with all your struggles and
your failings, I love you.”

Come and pray before the cross of Christ. Come and touch the cross with your
hands or your lips that you might touch it with your heart. Come and receive Jesus
in communion that you might know that even though today is Friday – Sunday’s
coming!

Deacon Tony