Commemorated on Sunday

Jesus died on Friday, but we commemorate it on Sunday. That custom arose because his resurrection on the first day of the week made clear what his death on the cross meant three days earlier.

Two other men died that same day the same way, but Jesus was not a criminal executed for his own crimes, but a sacrifice offered for our sins. God made that clear by bringing him out of the tomb. This bread and grape juice stand for his body and blood, given and shed. As we say so often from the apostle Paul, Jesus was delivered up on Friday for our trespasses and raised on Sunday for our justification (Romans 4:25).