Just about everyone I know loves a good story. Well, have I got a story for you!

To tell it best I need you to pick up a Bible and look at Luke 24. If your neighbor doesn?t have a Bible will you share yours with them?

For the past several Sundays we have been learning about the last week of Jesus? life. We learned that on Thursday night he and his 12 closest followers celebrated the Jewish Passover in Jerusalem. Then later that night, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. A mob of people interrupt Jesus and arrest him. Through the night and into the early hours of the morning Jesus is given a speedy and unfair trial. He is sentenced to death by the Roman official Pontius Pilate and on Friday morning he is nailed to a cross. By noon on Friday Jesus is dead. He is buried in a tomb with a stone rolled in front of the entrance and Roman guards stationed there. But early Sunday morning some women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb and found it empty.

Good Friday has always been a significant day in the life of a Christian. It is significant of course because of the event that it represents - the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. No doubt for those early disciples of Christ over 2000 years ago there was nothing “good” about this day at all. For them the day was about defeat, about incredible despair, and fear. I don’t think we have the slightest clue how they must have felt during the events leading up to Jesus’ awful agony in a very barbaric and cruel punishment. Those of us who have seen the movie “The Passion of the Christ” are left with some powerful images that perhaps grasp in part what it must have been like for those close to Jesus and Jesus Himself on that day. But in reality, those images - while haunting - really don’t affect us the same as the actual event did for those disciples. You see, as Christians we approach Friday with the knowledge of Easter morning. We know that Christ’s work on the cross was not about defeat but about victory. It was not about loss but about gain. His sacrifice on the cross was necessary for the victory of his resurrection.