Why is it a Good Friday?

This week my children, six and three, have been formulating their strategies for securing the most candy at the Easter egg hunt. But they’ve also made time to interrogate me and each other about death, resurrection, heaven, and spaceships. A typical backseat conversation goes like this:

          
Three year old: “Where is heaven? Is it higher than outer space?”

Wise six year old: “I think so.”

Three year old: “If I can get a flying rocket ship house, I’m going to go there, and I’m going to see Jesus!” *Pause* “Is Jesus a real person?”

Wise older brother: “Yes, he is.”

Three year old: “How can he be alive if he’s also dead?” *Beginning to cry* “And why did Grandma Morling have to die and go to heaven?”

Ummm … Jump in any old time here, Mom.

“Sometimes it’s hard to know if it’s all true or not,” said my son, turning his gaze out the car window.

“Yes, it is,” I agreed.

On Tuesday we flew back from vacation. As we were getting ready to exit the packed aircraft, my three year old suddenly realized what death means. We hadn’t been talking about it, and the plane didn’t nearly fall out of the sky, but all the same: “Mommy, I don’t want you to die. Please don’t die,” she repeated, drawing looks from all the other passengers. “Will I die? I don’t want to die. Hug me!”

Just when I think I have it figured out, just when I think I understand what Jesus was doing here on Earth and what the message of Calvary and Easter is, my kids wallop me with these existential questions.

Are we more than our bodies? 

Do we continue to exist after death?

How can we exist without bodies?

Was Jesus’ death really enough to bail us all out of our guilt before God?

     How can Grandma Morling’s body be here in a grave while she is alive in heaven?

One time a Hindu friend asked me to explain the Easter story to her. I was driving through a mall parking lot at the time, and just before I went over a speed bump, she said, “Why do you call it Good Friday if Jesus died?”

Heavens to Betsy. How could I explain this cosmic plan to save the universe as I was cruising through a parking lot next to a cell phone store?

I told her the same thing I told my kids. I said Jesus’ death was a deliberate act, designed to un-pretzel us from all the ways we get twisted up and connect us again to our Maker. That it was followed by Easter morning, when he cheated death and promised this same power to all his followers—life after death, new bodies, second chances.  The gospel in a nutshell, the best way I understand it to date. And yep, I would say that’s pretty good.