Tomorrow is Good Friday. On that day Christians commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins. However, some scholars disagree that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. The argument typically centers around the actual timeline of the last week of the life of Christ. If Jesus was dead for three literal days then he couldn’t have been crucified on a Friday and resurrected by the first day of the week. Therefore, he must have been crucified on a Wednesday.
Wednesday or Friday? I’m sure scholars will never fully agree on the day of the crucifixion. I’ve heard people argue this back and forth. But here’s the Good News. It doesn’t matter whether it was Wednesday or Friday. What matters is that Jesus died for our sins. More importantly, he rose again victorious over death, hell and the grave. That’s the Good News. That’s the Gospel! Jesus died and rose again…and that’s what we celebrate this weekend!
Study it out. Come to your own conclusion of which day Jesus died. But let’s be careful not to over emphasize and argue about the peripheral details. That usually only leads to over complicating the Gospel. People far from God need to hear the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They don’t need to hear another argument between Christians. So let’s focus on the majors and not the minors.
Let this Good Friday be about Good News! And let’s keep the Gospel simple. As I heard Dick Foth once say, “The Gospel is really simple. Jesus left his place to come to your place. He then took your place so you could go back to his place. That’s the Good News of the Gospel!”
