It Was a Black Friday but It Was a Good Friday

Jesus taught in parables. He used every day ordinary objects and events to teach amazing spiritual truths. I can’t help but wonder what He would say if He chose the American Black Friday as the event to highlight a spiritual lesson. “Forty-five of Jesus’ fifty-two recorded parables had a market place setting.” —Jim  Harris

I think there is an interesting parallel between the religious Black Friday that we call Good Friday and the American Black Friday. They both are represented by a relentless and ruthless suffering that results in savings. The lesson learned would be like that of the shrewd business manager.

He was an employee which means he received an income. What if the reduction he made to those indebted to his employer was actually his commission on each sale? He would have been truly wise and business savvy to give up a little commission to gain favor with many powerful people to secure his future. Jesus teaches us through this parable to be like this shrewd business man in our thinking about what we are willing to give up today to secure an eternal reward.

 Good Friday and Black Friday are both about giving up to gain. Both days involve sacrificing to secure savings. Americans sometimes camp at stores all night holding their spot in front of a store to be first in line for Friday’s savings. Jesus spent Thursday night praying in Gethsemane. While the disciples slept, He too was sleep deprived watching and waiting.

Plowing through crowd’s, people often suffer insult and many times injury as, laden down with merchandise, they worm their way through the long lines on Black Friday. Jesus, too suffered insult and injury as he bore a severe beating that left him barely able to walk.  He was forced to carry His own cross harassed by the crowds on the streets of Jerusalem.

Those who make it to the check-out counter are rewarded with good prices and precious gifts for those they love. Jesus paid the ultimate price, His very life, to secure the greatest gift that would ever be given, eternal life.

Taking Jesus’ command to be like the shrewd businessman and applying it to the pertinacious shopper, we are to be just as tenacious in our desire to give the best gifts to those we love.

Do we sacrifice, persist against all odds to do whatever it takes to make sure that we get our loved ones to that point of decision making? Do we keep on keeping on pushing ahead in loving, encouraging and most of all speaking truth till we leave knowing that those we love received the greatest most expensive gift that life can afford, Eternal Life in Christ?

The Gospel begins with the birth of the King and ends with the resurrection of the Lord of Lords. He is The GIFT and we must receive Him to benefit from His saving power. Zacchaeus assures us that Jesus is worth standing in line to hear; He is worth fighting the crowds and doing whatever it takes to see.

Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.” John 17:3 _{NET Bible}   Will we be known for being the best Black Friday shopper or will our legacy be that of being the most tenacious bearer of the Gospel? They are not mutually exclusive but it’s not the gift purchased on Black Friday but the one purchased on Good Friday that brings eternal savings.