☀️Good Friday Sun

Friday, April 7 - 2023 Week 14

Apr 07, 2023

It’s the first Friday of April. It’s a Good Friday.

☀️Facts of First Importance

As the culture war pontificates around us and advertisers keep filling up their accounts by selling controversy, it seemed like a good day to just report some relevant facts and leave the opinions for another time.

On Thursday night a man was arrested and taken to be interrogated by a number of political and military officials. Throughout the night and into Friday morning he was asked about his identity and his claims, and false charges were made to justify holding him. Eventually the mob demanded his punishment to death.

In a hurry to finish their work before the weekend, he was killed alongside of two other criminals and buried in a nearby tomb by sundown Friday.

His family and friends were devastated. Though he had predicted this treatment, none who listened seemed to grasp the reality.

The name of the man was Jesus, and these events took place around two-thousand years ago. After eating dinner with His closest disciples He went to pray in a nearby garden. A man named Judas who had been following Jesus for three years used his familiarity with Jesus to betray Him to the authorities. A large group of soldiers took Jesus into custody, mocked Him, beat Him, and then nailed His hands and feet to a cross.

Jesus had broken no laws. The arrest was unjust and the capital punishment the true crime. Jesus had not lied, stolen, murdered, or even had an immoral thought.

A man named Isaiah prophesied seven-hundred years earlier about the suffering Jesus would endure. The Servant of the Lord would be “despised and rejected by men,” “oppressed and afflicted,” “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,” “cut off out of the land of the living,” “although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

But yet today is called Good Friday. The “good” is also promised by Isaiah. The Suffering One “was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” The death of Jesus was a death in place of those who deserved death because of their sin. It’s good that there is a sacrifice for our sin.

“B.C.” comic strip by the late Johnny Hart

And the news is even more good because Jesus didn’t stay dead. The facts are of first importance: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” On Sunday we will celebrate that Jesus lives! He is risen! And this message is a message of forgiveness for sins and salvation from God’s wrath. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

One of Jesus followers summarized this substitution, “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”

This is non-fiction, not opinion. Though it has upset kings and rulers all over the world, and though many people reject Jesus as Lord and refuse to take refuge in Him, He is truly the good news.

☀️Resurrection Sunday Services

Gather with God’s people and worship the risen Lord on the Lord’s Day:

Allen Creek Community Church - 10:00am - 7314 44th Ave NE, Marysville
Cascade Christian Reformed Church - 10:00am - 13908 51st Ave NE, Marysville
First Baptist Church - 10:30am - 426 North French Avenue, Arlington. FBC is also having a Good Friday Service, 7:00pm
Generations Community Church - 10:00am - 8240 64th St. NE, Marysville. GCC is having a Good Friday service, 7:00pm
Grove Church - services at 9:00am, 10:00am, 11:00am and 12:00pm - 4705 Grove St, Marysville. Grove has two Good Friday services, 6:00pm and 7:30pm, along with two Saturday services, 5:00pm and 6:00pm
Marysville Foursquare Church - 9:30am and 11:00am - 11911 State Ave, Marysville
Mercy Fellowship - 10:00am - 4011 81st Pl NE, Marysville
Reclamation Church - 9:00am and 10:45am - 907 Lakewood Rd, Arlington
Reset Church - 10:00am - 1410 8th St, Marysville
Trinity Evangel Church - 10:00am - 9015 44th Dr NE, Marysville

☀️Events

Cascade Christian Reformed Church Annual Easter Egg Hunt - Tomorrow, Saturday, April 8, 10:45am-2:00pm. See their Facebook event page, with a note about their focus to make this year’s event Special Needs Friendly, and see the Sun’s coverage of the CCRC from this past February.

Coffee Klatch with Mayor Nehring - Next Monday, April 10, 5:30-6:30pm. The Mayor welcomes Congresswoman Suzan DelBene who represents Marysville in Washington’s 1st District. Read more info in this Facebook post.

Marysville Presents: Growing Flowers in the Pacific Northwest - two different events, Sustainable Beekeeping on Tuesday, April 11, 6:30pm and the actual Growing Flowers on Tuesday, May 16, 6:30pm, both at the Marysville Opera House. See the Facebook event page for more info.