Today is Good Friday. For many years I had wondered what was good about Good Friday, when the day is really one of mourning. It was then that I came across this article that tells one about just this enigma - what is good about Good Friday?
Why do we call Good
Friday “good,” when it is such a dark and bleak event commemorating a day
of suffering and death for Jesus?
For Christians, Good Friday
is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the
most momentous weekend in the history of the world. Ever since Jesus died and
was raised, Christians have proclaimed the cross and resurrection of Jesus to
be the decisive turning point for all creation. Paul considered it to be “of
first importance” that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to
life on the third day, all in accordance with what God had promised all along
in the Scriptures.
On Good Friday we remember
the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate
sacrifice for our sins. It is followed by Easter, the glorious celebration of
the day Jesus was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and
death and pointing ahead to a future resurrection for all who are united to him
by faith.
Still, why call the day of Jesus’ death “Good Friday” instead of “Bad
Friday” or something similar? Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example,
the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.” In English, in fact, the
origin of the term “Good” is debated: some believe it developed from an older
name, “God’s Friday.” Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is
entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as
it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from
their sins.
In order for the good news
of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news
of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of
deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. Another way of
saying this is that it is important to understand and distinguish between
law and gospel in Scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our
condition is; then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.
In the same way, Good
Friday is “good” because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us
to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out
on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and
salvation to be poured out to the nations. Without that awful day of suffering,
sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both “just and the
justifier” of those who trust in Jesus. Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the
greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God’s gloriously good
plan to redeem the world from bondage.
The cross is where we see
the convergence of great suffering and God’s forgiveness. Psalms sings
of a day when “righteousness and peace” will “kiss each other.” The cross of
Jesus is where that occurred, where God’s demands, his righteousness, coincided
with his mercy. We receive divine forgiveness, mercy, and peace because Jesus
willingly took our divine punishment, the result of God’s righteousness against
sin. “For the joy set before him” Jesus endured the cross on Good Friday,
knowing it led to his resurrection, our salvation, and the beginning of God’s
reign of righteousness and peace.
Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That’s
why Good Friday is so dark and so Good.
Justin Holcomb who is an Episcopal priest and teaches theology at
Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary wrote this nice article.
