There are two churches that I normally drive past during Easter week that display a cross draped with different color material.  Purple throughout the week, black on Friday and Saturday and then white on Easter Sunday.  Since I was a teenager these two churches have been in my normal path, but I am still delighted each year to see the tradition continue. 

Year after year, my heart races and my breath quickens when I pass those crosses on Good Friday.  Sometimes, in the past, I have been going about my daily grind, never stopping to consider that it is Good Friday.  When I see that black cloth draped on the cross it is a somber reminder.  Now that I have children, when we pass those crosses they want to know why the material is there and what it means. So I tell them the true story of Easter.

The purple cloth helps us to think of royalty.  A long time ago purple cloth was very expensive and only the very rich could afford it.  Kings wore purple.  When I see the purple cloth around the cross I remember that Jesus is God the son, my King, and Savior.  He was perfect and had done no wrong, but the leaders of his time did not like Him.  They wanted Him killed. 

They had Jesus arrested and even though He had never done anything wrong they were going to kill Him.  First, before they killed Him, they were mean to Him, they made fun of Him, they hit Him, beat Him and they spat on Him.  They mocked Jesus by putting a purple robe on Him. They made a pretend crown and put it on His head to make Him look like a King.  They didn’t know he really was a king; the King of all kings.

The crown they put on His head was made of thorns.  I want you to imagine that these thorns represent sin and bad things.  He took all our sin and put it on His head.  Jesus did this because he loved us.  He wanted to take the punishment for all the things you and I have ever done wrong. 

On Friday the church will change the color of the cloth from purple to black.  Friday is the day Jesus died and the black reminds us of death.  Black represents sadness or morning.  When someone dies people traditionally wear black clothes to the funeral.  Jesus Christ loved you so much that he wanted to die for you.  Black also reminds us that once Jesus had died that the sky became dark for 3 hours in the middle of the day.  He was then taken down from the cross wrapped in cloth and laid in a tomb. 

The white cloth represents the best part of this true story!   On Easter morning the cross will be draped in a white cloth to represent purity and new life.   The Bible tells us that on Sunday morning, very early, Jesus’ friends went to His tomb.  Jesus’ body was not there! Only the cloth they had wrapped His body in was laying there.  An angel was there dressed in white with a message.  Angels are God’s messengers.  The angel said, “Jesus is alive! He is risen!”  They were excited and ran to tell Jesus’ other friends.  Over 400 people saw Jesus alive and some of them even touched the scars on His hands.  The true story of Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and the new life we have in Christ.

Does Easter mean something special to you?  Does Easter mean something personal to you?  I’ll never forget an encounter I had several years ago with a woman excited about Easter.  I was working at a local grocery store as a cashier.  It was the night before Easter and we were slammed.  Every register was open and packed with people purchasing last minute items for their egg dying, Easter baskets and dinners.

 Employees and customers were haggard and tired.  I tried to sincerely wish each customer a Happy Easter even through I had said it hundreds of times that night.  As I gave one older lady her change, I said, “Have a Happy Easter!” and she replied, “Thank you, it’s my first one!” I starred at her baffled for a minute wondering how this older lady could possibly be having her first Easter.  She smiled before she walked off and said, “I just met Christ a few months ago!”