Last week I received the sad news of the death of one of my very close friends in Cameroon, Valentine Finke. We had grown up together and we played together as little kids. At one point, while we were growing up together, we were so hungry one afternoon that we ate some unfamiliar fruits we saw on a tree on our way back from school. The fruit turned out to be poisonous and we almost died. We survived, however, and went on to graduate from primary school, secondary school, high school, and then college (University). Well, Valentine (Vally, as I called him) did not actually graduate from college because during our time there he lost his mind. He lost his mind when we were about twenty years old or so and by the time he died at about the age of forty-two, he had not recovered. Valentine's life makes me wonder about what would have been. His is just one such lives that make me wonder about what would have been. In Cameroon and many other places in Africa and around the world, so many lives end like Valentine's. Sometimes we see a future in our minds and try to pursue that future but the future never comes; our hope dies in a very ruthless manner.
I want to suggest that for Christians Good Friday is the day to remember all those whose lives did not turn out to be what we had hoped. Good Friday is the day to remember the triumph of uselessness and waste, the uselessness and waste of so many promising lives. Because Christians are situated within the doctrine of providence, they hardly spend time (tarry) on the question of lost hopes. Good Friday is simply seen as a prelude to Easter Sunday, a day when we know that things will turn out alright when Christ is raised from the dead on Easter Sunday. Because Christians now know that there is an Easter, the gravity of Good Friday hardly registers. That in the world there are countless useless, hopeless, and unjustified deaths, is hardly reflected upon. But I would like us to wait, to tarry on Good Friday and dedicate this day to all those whose lives have been cut short, and whose dreams died prematurely. Good Friday is the day when hope for the future died. It still remains the case for many in spite of Easter Sunday. Today, many parents in South Korea mourn the deaths of school children in a ferry. Perhaps those kids might have amounted to something in the future. Perhaps.
This hopelessness is what the first Christians experienced and it is reflected in a text that is often read on Easter Sunday, Luke 24:13ff. This is the story about two of the followers of Jesus who were returning home, deeply disappointed and saddened after the crucifixion of Jesus. They had hoped that Jesus was to redeem Israel but, alas, it was not to be. That is how the followers of Jesus experienced his death. Think of those followers of Jesus who had died on the same Friday, like Jesus, or on the following day, Saturday, and who never heard about the resurrection! His death was an event that had killed the hopes they had. That is what Good Friday means and I hope we tarry to meditate on this before moving on in a hurry to speak of Easter. On the first Good Friday, no one knew about Easter. All the followers of Jesus knew was that what they had hoped would happen had been aborted. That is the story of life for many in a world where life is being squeezed out of many on a daily basis and, in many cases, by Christians. Today is a hopeless day. It will continue to be so for many in our world. Valentine's story is just one of the countless wasted lives in our careless world. Good Friday should remind us of this.
I want to suggest that for Christians Good Friday is the day to remember all those whose lives did not turn out to be what we had hoped. Good Friday is the day to remember the triumph of uselessness and waste, the uselessness and waste of so many promising lives. Because Christians are situated within the doctrine of providence, they hardly spend time (tarry) on the question of lost hopes. Good Friday is simply seen as a prelude to Easter Sunday, a day when we know that things will turn out alright when Christ is raised from the dead on Easter Sunday. Because Christians now know that there is an Easter, the gravity of Good Friday hardly registers. That in the world there are countless useless, hopeless, and unjustified deaths, is hardly reflected upon. But I would like us to wait, to tarry on Good Friday and dedicate this day to all those whose lives have been cut short, and whose dreams died prematurely. Good Friday is the day when hope for the future died. It still remains the case for many in spite of Easter Sunday. Today, many parents in South Korea mourn the deaths of school children in a ferry. Perhaps those kids might have amounted to something in the future. Perhaps.
This hopelessness is what the first Christians experienced and it is reflected in a text that is often read on Easter Sunday, Luke 24:13ff. This is the story about two of the followers of Jesus who were returning home, deeply disappointed and saddened after the crucifixion of Jesus. They had hoped that Jesus was to redeem Israel but, alas, it was not to be. That is how the followers of Jesus experienced his death. Think of those followers of Jesus who had died on the same Friday, like Jesus, or on the following day, Saturday, and who never heard about the resurrection! His death was an event that had killed the hopes they had. That is what Good Friday means and I hope we tarry to meditate on this before moving on in a hurry to speak of Easter. On the first Good Friday, no one knew about Easter. All the followers of Jesus knew was that what they had hoped would happen had been aborted. That is the story of life for many in a world where life is being squeezed out of many on a daily basis and, in many cases, by Christians. Today is a hopeless day. It will continue to be so for many in our world. Valentine's story is just one of the countless wasted lives in our careless world. Good Friday should remind us of this.
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