The Long Good Friday
We recently watched a film called “The Long Good Friday”. This film’s only connection with the Biblical events of Good Friday is that it takes place in London one Good Friday and the following day.
The film stars many famous actors when they were just starting out. Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Derek Thompson (Charlie Fairhead in Casualty) and Pierce Brosnan before he was more famously known as James Bond 007.
Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) is a London Gangster and on this particular Good Friday everything seems to go wrong… several of his gang members are killed, cars and buildings associated with the gang are blown up and Harold nearly killed.
Understandably Harold is concerned and tries to discover who is behind the attacks on his organisation. Everybody in the organisation is concerned except for Harold’s “right hand man” Jeff (Derek Thompson) who always remains cheerful. Harold asks Jeff why this is so and Jeff replies that he knows “he is on the winning side”. This reassures Harold that though things are presently dire they will overcome the opposition and be the “winning side”.
That is not to be so because things go from bad to worse for Harold and Jeff and their day goes very bad.
How is your day going?
Are you on the winning side?
If you are presently going through a difficult time do you know that you are on the winning side?
Clearly Harold’s gang was not the “winning side” as the Bible says “He that lives by the sword will die by the sword” Matthew 26:52.
If you want to be on the winning side in this life and the life to come you need to be on Jesus Christ’s side. That is the only way you will come through the bad things that can happen to you in this life in one piece and Jesus’s side is the only “winning side”.
How do your know Jesus’s side is the winning side?
Jesus defeated death as shown by his resurrection after the first Good Friday. He offers us a way of defeating death by receiving the eternal life that he offers. No doubt there were entry requirements to be taken on in Harold’s gang… a person specification for the ideal gang member.
What are the entry requirements to join Jesus’s gang?
Harold’s gang was an association of the most violent thugs and that was essential for their business. Jesus wants people fit for his kingdom which is a kingdom of good and light.
We may not be gangsters but we cannot meet Jesus’ entry requirements we are just not good enough. God terms this sin and sin not being dealt with will mean we cannot be part of God’s eternal kingdom… Heaven.
God dealt with our sin which deserved punishment for justice to be served by sending his only son Jesus to be punished, die in our place on the cross not for his sins but for our sins so that we may have eternal life.
The Bible sums it up in the Gospel of John Chapter 3…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV.
And in the Gospel of John it also says…
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13 NKJV.
So the entry requirements are to believe and receive Jesus then you have the right to become a child of God.
That is what being on the “winning side” is all about.
Michael Fowler July 2024
