THAT FRIDAY, THOSE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS CAME ALIVE!
—— —— Good Friday Special Edition —— ——
Friday is definitely the happiest day of the week!
Yes it’s still a workday, but it is followed by my favorite days,
namely Saturday and Sunday —- Surely Friday brings the most hope!
Look how happy Snoopy is!
However, I was pretty surprised to discover a Friday called “Good Friday” on the calendar,
and it’s even a statutory holiday —-
Aren’t all Fridays good? What’s so special with this Good Friday？
Charlie Brown told Patty that Good Friday is Good because Jesus died for us sinners
so that we may have eternal lives. But…
A good person like me, sinner?!
I remember when I was little,
I always tried to tell “good guys” from “bad guys” when I watched movies.
I figured that good guys were usually good looking with a kind voice;
and bad guys usually appeared sneaky.
But when I got older, movie plots, especially those of spy movies,
also became more sophisticated. Often I got confused and wondered,
“Is this a good guy or a bad guy?”
We always assume there are good guys and bad guys in this world.
And needless to say, we are on the “good” side.
However, more and more life experiences blurred the line between “good guys” and “bad guys”.
In A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Madame Defarge started as a good person
who may draw lots of sympathy — Her sister, her sister’s unborn child, her father, her brother
and her brother’s wife were all killed by the Evrémonde brothers.
Madame Defarge turned her grief into strength and became a pioneer of the French Revolution.
However, as the story moved on,
her heart was gradually devoured by revenge and she turned into a villain.
“Hurt people hurt people.”
In the Bible, there was a story about a father and two sons.
The younger one was the typical “bad guy” –
A runaway teenage who squandered all his money and made his father sad.
But the older one obediently served his father and never ever ran against his father’s will.
He must be the best guy among all the “good guys” —-
How many of us have never run against our father’s will?
However, the story turned dramatically.
The younger son started his way home after experiencing all kinds of miseries.
When the dad was overjoyed by the safe return of the younger son,
the older one got so upset that he refused to enter the house.
He bitterly accused his dad’s unfairness of treating his “prodigal son” so well.
A perfect son, with a perfect track record, a role model for the neighborhood teens…
Has he ever missed his younger brother? Ever worried about his wellbeing?
Probably never. Otherwise, he would have run into the house to welcome his returned brother.
It wouldn’t be difficult for him to notice his father’s grief if he ever spared some time sitting with his father.
He would have shared his father’s pain and longed for his brother’s safe return if he loved his father.
Here was the older son — perfect outside, but heartless, arrogant, and jealous inside.
He couldn’t care less about his brother’s struggles or his father’s pain.
Could I be such a “good guy”? How dreadful!
“You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” the father reassured his older son.
God is just like this father, always longing for me to return home.
Could I be a “good guy” who works hard and performs well,
but completely disregard his father and his father’s love?
Could I be a “good guy” who overlooks his true identity as a son or daughter,
but lives like a bitter and calculating slave?
It is said that in the early 1900s, The Times, the London newspaper,
sent out an inquiry to famous authors posing the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?”
G.K. Chesterton, a famous English writer and philosopher, responded simply:
Dear Sir,
I am.
Yours, G.K. Chesterton.
A Price tag for each wrongdoing
My colleague said, “All right, I admit I am a sinner.
But couldn’t God just forgive me if he loves me? Why bother to die for me?”
Imagine you lend your car to your neighbor.
Two hours later, your neighbor was back.
Completely distressed, he told you he accidentally ran a red light and crashed the car.
He just got laid off and has no money to compensate your loss.
Now you have two choices, forgive him and bear the loss yourself,
or sue him and let him compensate you no matter what.
You would realize there is no such thing as “just forgive”.
His wrongdoing has a price, which is your car.
To forgive means you will pay for other’s wrongdoings.
And there are harms that can’t be compensated by money.
We could be bullied and mocked. Our dignity could be trampled. Our freedom could be deprived.
We may withdraw ourselves from the relationship; we may retaliate by an even nastier insult;
or we may defame others on the internet, etc.
By doing these, we subconsciously want others to pay for their wrongdoings.
To forgive, on the contrary, means I myself will bear all the damages caused by others’ wrongdoings.
No wonder it’s not easy at all.
You may say. But He is God! A God with unlimited resources.
Can He not just forgive and forget my sins?
Well, will you trust yourself to a God who doesn’t take sins seriously?
The God revealed by Bible is a God who is completely holy and righteous.
He hates sins. Each sin has a clear price tag attached — “death”!
In The Chronicles of Narnia, the fantasy novels by C. S. Lewis,
four siblings travelled to a magical world called Narnia.
The land was being kept in a perpetual winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis, who turned anyone who did not obey her into stone.
The four children tried to combat the White Witch and break the spell.
But Edmund, one of the four siblings, was tempted by the Witch’s Turkish Delight and betrayed his brother and sisters.
At the very moment the White Witch was about to kill Edmund, Aslan, the lion showed up and saved Edmund.
However, Edmund’s betrayal had a dreadful consequence.
The White Witch showed up at Aslan’s door and said,
“You know, according to the old Narnia Law, the blood of the betrayal belongs to me.”
“I know.” Aslan said.
Aslan offered his own blood to redeem Edmund.
The White Witch said yes without any hesitation — After all, it’s Aslan who was her real threat and perpetual enemy.
All the children were desperately sad and confused. Why can’t Aslan just tear the White Witch into pieces?
Of course, Aslan is powerful enough to do so. But what about Edmund?
Edmund’s betrayal traded himself to the Witch. Aslan needed to redeem Edmund first.
God for sure can crush all the evil power of this world. But don’t forget we have traded ourselves to the evil power of this world by our sins.
God’s love and forgiveness is free, but not cheap. He offered his own blood as ransom and redeemed us from the evil power of this world.
The Fictional characters came alive on Good Friday
Let’s go back to A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens.
Darnay and Carton strongly resembled each other. And they both fell in love with Lucy.
Lucy married to Darnay and they soon had a lovely daughter. But those good days didn’t last long.
Darnay was framed by Madame Dafarge and was sentenced to death.
The night before the execution, Carton sneaked into Darnay’s cell,
drugged him to sleep, exchanged clothes with him, and had him carried out of the prison.
The next day, Carton was executed in Darnay’s place .
To love Lucy and to protect her family, Carton was willing to die for Darnay, despite his objection.
A Tale of Two Cities is named because the story was set in peaceful London and tumultuous Paris.
At the end of the story, Carton rushed from London to Paris, died for Darnay,
and let Darnay’s family escape from Paris to London.
When I was reflecting this story, I found it came alive on Good Friday —-
We live in a tumultuous world. Satan prisoned us. Death is our verdict.
But Jesus came to this world from above, on that Good Friday, he came to my cell, put on my dirty clothes, and died for me, in a most shameful and torturous way. He helped me put on his clean clothes and showed me the way home.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I typed the above…
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.”
【Romans 5:8】
—– THE END —–