Friday, April 6, 2012

Good Friday Work


It’s Good Friday and I am willing to take the risk of mixing religion and work, which makes a lot of people uncomfortable.

Why Christians call this Friday, “Good Friday” seems odd.  This is the day when they remember the arrest, torture and execution of the founder of their faith, Jesus of Nazareth.  Some Christians refer to events of that day as ‘the work Christ did on behalf of others.” 

From Jesus’ example we see that work has a spiritual reality.  Jesus is still one of the most highly-respected spiritual leaders today.  He did not exempt himself from the heaviest and most difficult work that needed to be done.  Instead, he embraced the work before him, even to the point of his own suffering and death.  He did that work humbly and he did it for others, in order to “ensoul” them.

No one really knows how this day came to be called “Good” and maybe that is a good thing in and of itself.  The lack of a certain explanation allows each of us to consider the story of Jesus’ work. Whatever our individual traditions, we can ask ourselves, “What good is there in such selfless work?  What good, if any, was there in His work for me?”

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