It is Good Friday but Sunday is coming

By Grace Segran

JAKARTA (JP): About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", records Matthew in his gospel. Jesus was alienated from God because God could not stand sin.

Christians believe that as he hung on the cross that first Good Friday 2000 years ago, Jesus, the Son of God, took upon himself the judgment for mankind's wrongdoings. He became the substitute, receiving the judgment man deserved from God -- the death penalty. He who knew no sin bore the punishment for man's sins. With justice having been meted out on Jesus, as the representative of mankind, God now reaches out in love to draw mankind to himself.

Soon after the ninth hour, he committed his spirit to God, breathed his last and died. He was buried in a tomb. When women came to embalm his body with spices on Sunday (the third day), they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they remembered his words: "I must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again," and realized that they were looking for the living among the dead. Jesus had risen, and repentance and forgiveness of sins is now preached throughout the world. What a glorious meaning Easter has!

What comes to mind this Good Friday and Easter is not hot cross buns and Easter bunnies, but truth and reconciliation.

Indonesia is at the crossroads and it has chosen to take the path toward reform. But it bears a heavy burden with the excesses of the past. There is a dire need for truth and reconciliation before the country can move on.

The story of Good Friday is the story of God reconciling man to Himself. Men in sin had rebelled against God. And there was nothing men could do to earn God's favor, but God came down to reconcile man to Himself. And in that reconciliation, man can be reconciled to his neighbor. At the heart of all war and enmity between people is a heart that is at war with itself. The message of Good Friday is a message of reconciliation between God and man, and between men and men.

Look at South Africa and what it did when it was in a situation similar to the one Indonesian now finds itself. Upon the dismantling of apartheid, Bishop Tutu was commissioned to help the country come to terms with the past as the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The people of South Africa were encouraged to talk about the past so that the country could heal its wounds. And they did.

Countless hours of evidence, seemingly endless testimony and massive reams of documents were all assiduously plowed through. The purpose of the exercise was not recrimination and vengeance. It was to seek closure, to deal with the past and to forgive, so the country could move on.

Today the South African TRC has finished its task. The past is by no means buried, but the country has at least made a start at dealing with the past. The message of Good Friday has been taken seriously.

No one is above the law. There is no need to seek revenge, but to forgive one another for their wrongs. Sometimes restitution is necessary, but the important thing is to deal with the past, be reconciled with your neighbor and get on with rebuilding lives and the country.

Likewise current violence must cease. Man must be reconciled with his neighbor. All faiths preach peace, and there is great hypocrisy in citing religion as a reason to kill our fellow man.

The source of our problems is men at war with men. And the root cause of this is that man is at war with God. The Easter message is that God came down to make peace with man, and as a result man could be at peace with himself and at peace with God.

But the story of Good Friday is meaningless without the climax of Easter. Christians believe that Jesus, who died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins on Friday, rose again on Sunday, to triumph over death and to bring hope and salvation to the world.

The story of Easter proclaims that death is not the end; it is the beginning of a glorious new life.

The twin stories of Good Friday and Easter are reconciliation and hope. These are the same truths that are so necessary at the present hour, here and now. The need for peace is desperate. The need for hope in the current trials is critical.