It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming

The well-known pastor Tony Campolo has a famous sermon entitled, "It's Friday but Sunday's coming." He uses the analogy of the gloomy "Good" Friday when all was sad and dismal and upsetting and Sunday when there was cause for celebration and rejoicing in order to compare that to situations in our lives today. An example from his sermon might be this...

"It's Friday and... you're upset, you're feeling low, you lost your job, you're ___,
but Sunday's coming!"

No matter what curves and difficulties and "tribulations" (to use the Paulian terminology) might come our way, we as Christians have the promise of a Sunday that is indeed coming, maybe not today or tomorrow but the next day, in our eternal Sunday, our union with Christ in heaven.


Friday of Weeping, Sunday of Rejoicing

3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David's two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. -1 Samuel 30:3-6

Sometimes I think the verses in the Bible which display sadness are as comforting as those Psalms which are filled with joy. It just makes it all feel more real. I believe there is a reason that the author did not skip over the intense emotions felt by David and his men who "wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep." In life, we feel sadness, we experience pain. But we can learn a lesson that after that moment of "great distress" was over, "David found strength in the Lord his God."

And that strength brought David from his gloomy Friday to his Sunday where he, with the help of an Egyptian slave, recovered all the plunder they had taken from them... every single person and material possession. (See the rest of this chapter for more of wonderful uplifting story!)

Perhaps one of the moments of greatest distress is that when we lose a loved one. This morning I am reminded of my colleague who has lost his father. One of the most difficult times was when I lost my own cousin, and I remember what is described here- "weeping aloud until [you] have no strength." And in this case, I don't believe the Sunday comes in forgetting that loved one or leaving that pain... but in knowing that you will be reunited again. There is a Sunday we have to look forward to, the ultimate Sunday.


Friday of Working, Sunday of Reaching the Goal

32He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' 33In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! -Luke 13:32-33

And here Jesus talks about that ultimate Sunday. He is working and laboring, healing and driving out demons. Sometimes I imagine it must not have been easy for Jesus, such humility. A King, a Prince, our God really did the unthinkable. He came to earth, with all its problems. He came, not to the most beautiful palace but to the humble places. And even worse, he came to a people who did not widely acknowledge who he was. He was criticized, threatened, chased. Many of Jesus' unpleasant experiences on earth were like a Friday... even before that infamous Friday at Calvary.

But then there was Sunday, and Jesus rose, and proved who He was and did the unthinkable... and His Sunday came with His union with the Father.


It's Friday but Sunday's coming.