Jesus told us to love God and love one another. If we do those things, then together we can build the Kingdom of Heaven. Everyone will be welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven. It will be like a great pearl – beautiful and precious. it will be like the yeast used to make bread – transforming us all into something new. It will be like a tiny mustard seed – growing into a tree that offers shelter and rest.
More than two thousand years ago, there were people who wanted to help Jesus build the Kingdom of Heaven – and there were people who did not. The people who did not had little kingdoms of their own – places that they ruled in ways that made them rich but left others poor and hungry and sick. These were not good kingdoms but the rulers liked them just the way they were. They were afraid of the Kingdom of Heaven. They were afraid of Jesus.
So they killed him. They killed Jesus on Good Friday.
If you’re using “Holy Week in a Box,” bend a pipe cleaner into a cross shape. Or use some sticks. Maybe you have a cross in your house that you can look at and remember that this is the day Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of Judea, ordered Jesus to be killed on a cross.
This is a day that might make you sad. It might make you mad. It might make you want to change the world, to turn it into the Kingdom of Heaven that God dreams for us.
Are you wondering why it’s called Good Friday? “Good” probably comes from a word that means “holy.” This is a holy day, even though it’s sad.
The story is not over. There is a sad part but there is Good News to come.