Good Friday + Easter: as told by Eric Carle

My parents babysat for C (as discussed earlier) so that J and I could go to our church's Good Friday Service.

(side note: When I was little, I couldn't figure out why they called Good Friday "good". This was the day of Jesus' crucifixion! Why was it good? Well, truthfully, I was still wondering that yesterday so I looked into it. This blog post really helped me--check it out here!)

It was a small, intimate service, designed to create a somber, reflective mood. God really emphasized the dramatic factor by scheduling a massive thunder and lightening (and then rain) show in the middle of the service. It actually really set the tone for the seriousness of the night. After all, when Jesus died, according to Matthew 27:51b "The earth shook and the rocks split."

Anyway, I started writing this post because yesterday, on Good Friday, C and I read the Very Hungry Catepillar.

(side note: Did you know Eric Carle had a blog and that the Very Hungry Catepillar is 40 years old?)

It made me think that the metamorphosis of the caterpillar is an excellent allegory for the change that Christians undergo thanks to Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection days later. God loves to put Jesus' stories into His creation--you can find examples of it everywhere if you just look! (Luke 19:40)

Because I've been writing this post for a day and a half now, I'm copying this information from Bible.org in the interest of time

Biologically speaking, the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly is spoken of as a “metamorphosis.” The ugly, repulsive caterpillar is confined to a tomb which it spins for itself. While in the cocoon there is an apparently dead and formless substance. But after the warm sun of spring has beaten its golden rays upon that cocoon, there comes forth a beautiful butterfly. Though the butterfly is different in appearance from the caterpillar, we recognize the beautiful winged insect as being the same as the caterpillar. It is the same living creature, yet different. So also is the resurrection of the body. Now we have a vile body (or a body of humiliation). The Apostle James calls it a “low” body, “because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away” (James 1:10). The body of Adam, in its original state, was provided with a covering of glory, but when sin entered the covering of glory was replaced with a covering of humiliation. In our present bodies of humiliation we are unfit for the glories of Heaven and God’s presence, but hopefully we look for our Lord’s return when He shall fashion our bodies of humiliation like unto His own body of glory. It will be the same body in that it will be recognizable, but wonderfully changed.

Sunday is Coming!