The resurrection looks backward to the cross. "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming" sees in the wrong direction.

 

Every year, it is Easter Sunday that gets the focus. Before Holy Week even hits, churches advertise Easter services, looking ahead to the big event. And I understand it (sort of)...churches need to do it in our triumphant culture. We want to celebrate the triumph and the "victory," the hero who overcomes. 

I fear we're missing the point. 

The actual stories of the gospels have a curious difference in perspective. The gospels spend much less time on the resurrection than they do on the crucifixion. It makes me wonder if we have put the emphasis on the wrong syllable. I mean, if we want to get the story right, shouldn't we follow the script a little more closely?

Combined, the gospels spend a total of eight chapters on the trial and crucifixion accounts, and less than half of that amount on the resurrection (Mark gets a mere eight verses). 

And the focus on the crucifixion is not limited to the stories of Jesus' trial and death. Leading up to his death, Jesus speaks directly of his death several times, and the stories allude to it indirectly even more. The crucifixion is front-and-center from Jesus' birth to death (just consider how Jesus' birth mirrors his trial and death in Matthew's story).

The resurrection gets far less press, and the scenes themselves are not jump around, happy-clappy party celebrations. There's no singing, praising God, or announcing to the world. The resurrection stories are filled with fear, confusion, and worship. In the resurrection stories, disciples are called to be "witnesses" in Luke, but witnesses to the crucified Lord, and in Matthew they are called to make disciples, who carry the cross and follow Jesus.

In other words, the resurrection scenes cast light back on the crucifixion. The rest of the New Testament is making sense of the fact that their "normal" just got blown up. And it's not merely because Jesus raised from the grave. The resurrection confirms that the cross is the way to life, and that doesn't make sense for normal humanity. For the Apostle Paul, it is the crucifixion, not the resurrection, that is the turning point in history. Just read Galatians. Or Philippians. Or First Corinthians. Or Ephesians. Or...well, shoot. It's in all of his letters.

Now, to be clear: the resurrection is a big deal. A BIG DEAL. But, from the actual stories of the gospels and the rest of the New Testament, it is the resurrection that shines light on the crucifixion, not the crucifixion that looks forward to the resurrection. From all accounts in the New Testament, the resurrection revolves around the orbit of the crucifixion. It seems we've got it backward in most of our churches. 

To rephrase what I saw in one church's advertisement: the crucifixion (NOT the resurrection) is the main event. The resurrection is not the climax of the story; the crucifixion is. Jesus said "It is finished," on the cross, not when he came out of the tomb. The resurrection is the conclusion that affirms that the crucifixion is the climax.

Of course, without the resurrection the crucifixion would be a tragic death. But without the crucifixion, there would be no resurrection. And in the New Testament, it is consistently the case that it's not just that crucifixion was a tragic mishap, an injustice to Jesus that needed to be overcome. The resurrection means that the suffering and the cross are central things to be affirmed, not overcome. 

The default thinking that "it might be Friday, but Sunday's coming" goes the wrong direction. 

Instead of "it's Friday, but Sunday's coming," the witness of the New Testament reads more like: "Sunday means Friday shows who God is." This is not just the resurrection to overcome death; it is the resurrection of Jesus, who was crucified (Matt. 28:5). In confirming the cross as God's true revelation in Christ, the resurrection gives us hope and vision so that we might live the cross-shaped life, not the "resurrection life." 

Like raising up one's national flag draws to mind something about what that nation stands for, so raising up Jesus on the cross defines what God's kingdom is all about. If we are people who call Jesus "Lord," then the cross is our flag, and everything it stands for defines how we think and live on this earth.

In the midst of a world that hungers for power, triumph, self-glory, and superiority, the resurrection affirm sacrificial love, humility, suffering, and death as the way of Jesus' kingdom. Talk about blowing up our normal.

It's Good Friday. Jesus' death redeems us, brings forgiveness, and becomes as the center of our everything. Crucifixion is not a pit stop to the resurrection. Crucifixion is the way to life.