Two Black Fridays

Two Black Fridays
Fridays after a feast
One, frivolous
The other, grim
2,000 years apart

The Friday after Thanksgiving
When shoppers flood the malls
The day when store ledgers shift
From red to black
From debt to abundance
A shortfall erased
In a single day

The Friday after the
Passover meal
When grace floods Golgotha
Another ledger is altered
Another shortfall erased
Debt to abundance
Red to black
Blood to darkness
Cross to grave

Two Black Fridays
2,000 years apart
Unruly mobs
A price paid
A gift purchased

Two Black Fridays
One, anticipating Christmas
The other, Christmas fulfilled
Both precede celebration
Festivity
For a King who came once
Someday to come again

Manger
Empty tomb
Splitting sky
Bargains for the human race
Door busters between heaven and earth
Black Friday gifts
Delivered
Unwrapped
Embraced