SMILE BEHIND THE MASK (GOOD FRIDAY)
Holy Week Reading 6: Mark 15:1-47

Good Friday has finally arrived. The day arrives with a great cloud of concern, worry, and uncertainty. Nobody has to explain it. The simplest errands are difficult. Businesses are closed. Schools and parks are empty. Hospitals and medical clinics are full. We look at each other with doubt, unsure who is healthy...or not. We don’t feel safe. Few (if any) are smiling behind their mask.

As difficult as it is today, our Good Friday is still not as bad as what Jesus followers’ experienced. However, there are some distinct similarities. Jesus’ followers were frightened, worried, and full of doubt and uncertainty. They didn’t know where to turn or how they would be rescued from the mess that was thrust upon them. They weren’t prepared and they could never have predicted the tragedy that fell upon them.

The term, “Good Friday,” is only labelled “Good” because we know that the terrible day 2,000 years ago led to something beautiful. Our current environment will also lead to something beautiful, but since we don’t know what it is or when or how it will occur, few of us can call this day, “Good”…YET!

Our Faith in Jesus Christ gives us hope in God’s blessings. Our Faith gives us confidence and assurance in the things to come, even if we can’t pinpoint the exact time and place that God will surface and rescue our world from this Pandemic. As Jesus’ followers, we should be mindful that behind most of the masks we see this weekend, people aren’t smiling. Like us, they’re scared and full of doubt. However, because many of those same people don’t understand the hope that Jesus Christ offers to everyone, they have nowhere to shelter their fear and uncertainty.

We can make this day “Good” for someone if we simply open our eyes, hearts and minds to the people directly in front of us. Today (more than any other Good Friday), and this weekend (more than any other Easter weekend), we can deliver the true hope of Jesus Christ to others. People who weren’t ready before are ready now. It is in the midst of darkness that God’s Light of Jesus Christ shines the brightest.

This is the time to shine the Light of Jesus Christ! During these next three days, we can demonstrate our love for God and our love for our neighbors in ways that none of us have experienced. The masks are hiding their frowns, but we can help change that. We can offer them Christ. Let's turn today into a truly Good Friday.

“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:37-39, NIV).