Good Friday Observations

It’s interesting how things work. Recently, I got a link across the transom to the story of Ken Kirby, a 52-year-old police officer who had a massive heart attack and rushed to the hospital. When he got there, he had no heart beat. He was dead. Apparently, Officer Kirby and his wife had been fighting a lot in the time just before that. She was distraught, of course.

Having no other treatments to offer, the emergency room staff turned to prayer. Well, 45 minutes after his arrival, Ken Kirby recovered. He was back from the dead.

This police officer, a regular guy, returned to this life via prayer. Prayer works!

Ken Kirby’s experience shows that the lesson of the Resurrection can be applied to everyday people in everyday situations – and had there been no crucifixion, there would be no resurrection.

Good Friday is the chance to put off – metaphorically, to put to death – that which is holding us back, so that we may “resurrect’ into a new way of thinking, a new way of being, in Khalil Gibran’s elegant phrase, “the flute through which the breath of the Divine passes.” This is what Jesus taught us and it is what stories like that of Ken Kirby exemplify.

We are all familiar with the story. It begins with Jesus riding triumphally into Jerusalem on an ass, with people laying palm branches, marking a “hero”, as he enters the city. It continues through the week. Finally, at the Passover, Judas betrays him to the Romans for thirty pieces of silver. The high priest tries to build a case against Jesus for his unorthodox interpretations of Jewish scriptures. Then he is sent to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who cannot find any reason to punish him either, but does so anyway to mollify King Herod. Then Jesus is crucified and rises again. A great example to us all – and as Jesus said, told us in John 14:12, “The things that I have done, you also shall do, and greater than these shall you do.” In John 10:34, he tells us “I have said you are gods.” Jesus the Wayshower provides us with the most dramatic example of this. (Still, how do you go from triumphal, almost royal, treatment to execution in a mere five days?)

The story of Holy Week tells us to follow Jesus’s example. Jesus walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out the other side, not to prove that he was special, but to prove that we all are.

Emma Curtis Hopkins wrote, “He would have us know all things, have all things, without trying to have them; and be filled with power without long practice in science or art, and so on through the list of worldly ways.”

I believe that what Emma is saying is, Simply follow the example of the Wayshower and let the greatness that you are in God come forth without trying to manage it. I’m sure Jesus wouldn’t have designed his life and ministry, especially Holy Week, the way it played out. But he went forth with confidence, in peace, knowing that he walked every step in God. In all we do, in all we say, let us walk in God.

The Resurrection is us. Deep in each of us is the living Christ, the living God, what Ernest Holmes called “perfect God, perfect man, perfect being.” What is God’s highest and best, and what do you need to “crucify” to open it up to be expressed?

It begins with forgiveness. A Course in Miracles tells us, “Forgive and you will see this differently.” It says, “These are the words by which salvation comes to all the world. Shall we not learn to say these words when we are tempted to believe that pain is real, and death becomes our choice instead of life?” What must we do to choose the fullness of life instead of the emptiness of stagnation, fear, and death?

I recently found a good article on the web discussing Good Friday from a New Thought perspective. It’s written by Karen Linsley, RScP. She writes, “Here's the lesson: when bad stuff happens, we turn to love. We bless and do good. Try it. The next time someone wants to argue with you, settle down, get quiet, bless and do good, and see what their reaction is.”

And she continues, “when we do this, when we bless and do good and turn to love and place our attention on that which is good in our life, guess what? We experience more good, because what we focus on expands.”

As we observe the crucifixion on this Good Friday and the resurrection (the real point of the story) on Easter, let us ease into that greatness that God intends to be as and through us, or in the words of the poet William Blake:

To see the world in a grain of sand, Heaven in a wildflower. To hold infinity in the palm of your hand, Eternity in an hour.

Here is the message of Easter and its prelude, Good Friday. Let us rise up to the fullness of who we are in God. Let us carry our crosses, walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and transcend them to shine forth the Light of God.

After all, as we are told in Matthew, “When you light a candle you do not hide it under a bushel, you put it on a table by the window.” Go forth and shine this day.

Your post was very well thought out and made some excellent points. As I was reading I kept waiting for you to get to the punch line which is even though we were taught Jesus died on Friday and we now know it was Wednesday, all the implications of the Passion week in our personal lived still stand. Unfortunately, you missed the mark.

The story is so familiar that we forget it could have been different. If the Jews had not rejected Jesus, if Judas had not betrayed him or changed his mind. if the Sanhedrim had got on along, if Pilate had listened to his wife(or Adam not to his) .All had free will, and because God foresees what “will happen” does not mean it must so happen. Perhaps if we had not been caught in traffic on our way to work and spewed out hatted of our fellow drivers as intense as any of Hitler’s rants against the Jews.

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