The Greatest Practical Joke

(I dedicate tonight's blog to Pope John Paul II the Great because this is the anniversary of his passing into Heaven.)

Someone once told me that the greatest practical joke God ever played on the devil was that on Good Friday the devil thought he had "won" when He saw the Son of God dead on the cross. There must've been some party in Hell on that Friday night....ooh, I betcha that little creep downstairs was on his high horse and bragging to all the little devils that he had taken down the one and only Son of God. He must've had himself a good laugh...for a couple of days at least.

Well, we all know the end of the story, and the devil did not win. Can you imagine his horror and dismay the second the resurrection happened? Can you imagine the big belly laugh God our Heavenly Father must've had when He saw the look on the devil's face after the resurrection? I betcha that ol' devil had quite a temper tantrum!

Nobody does anything better than our God and boy, did He ever play the biggest practical joke EVER on that little creep downstairs?!

Today is Good Friday. It was the day that our beloved Jesus, gave all that He had for you and for me. It was the day our salvation was won back and Jesus broke the chains that had bound us since the dawn of humanity.

In hindsight, we know what Good Friday is all about because we know that the resurrection happened after it. However, back then they did not know what we know. Jesus' followers were confused and most abandoned Him. The day of the crucifixion was a dark scary day. They didn't understand what was happening even though Jesus had tried to prepare them.

And then his mother Mary, also our Heavenly mother...was there at the cross through it all. She is a model for us. She didn't run from the cross even though what she was seeing before her eyes was splitting her heart in two. She was present with her Son when He needed her the most. Her love kept her there just as Jesus' love for us kept Him on the cross. As humiliating as it was for Him to have His mother see Him like that, I bet she was the one comfort He truly had, especially after He cried out to His Father asking Him why He had abandoned Him, because that is what he was feeling at that moment. I never thought of that before, until now.

So, the joke on the little creep downstairs is not just that Jesus' death wasn't final, but that through His death and resurrection, God gave Mary to the world as our mother. In her humility God rose her to the height of Queen of Heaven. That must've been a slap in the face to the devil because I wonder if he ever regretted being so arrogant to the point of being kicked out of Heaven. If he had only stuck it out as a humble angel, he could have had so many blessings. But he chose not to be humble.

I think it is neat that humility always trumps arrogance. Something for all of us to think about this Good Friday night.