What's So Good About Friday?

Today is a special day comemorated the world over. Today is the day we remember the crucifixion. It has always seemed to me that calling today "Good Friday" was a bit inappropriate since what we remember on this day is without question one of the worst things that ever happened. From every external indicator there is no reason why we should think anything good on a day comemorating the execution of God's Son. Rather than having a day off to buy new Easter clothes, you might think we would sit in ashes with black clothes. We don't, though. We comemorate this day with celebration of various kinds. Truly, it seems paradoxical.



When we study the invisible aspects of what transpired on this day so long ago, we still come up with same result - the death of God's Son. We start with God the Father and quickly surmise from explicit Scripture references that the Father SENT the Son into the world to die for the world. We study his character and learn that his holiness, justice and all of the qualities that he possesses to infinity required that the law be satisfied by the shedding of blood. We read of the Son that he desired to come and lay down his life. When we look at the motives of the those who played out this redemptive drama we see them filled with rage and malice. We know that love factors into the divine motive and yet the end result of this day is the death of God's Son.



When we consider the result accomplished by the death of God's Son we can see nothing but goodness, mercy, grace and justice all rolled into one. The righteous law of God required that atonement be made for sin. Blood had to be shed and not just any blood. Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats just isn't sufficient. The kind of blood that had to be shed was the purest, cleanest, undefiled and most holy blood - the blood of Jesus. It was in his death that the law was satisfied and God's wrath against sin was turned away. It was in the turning away of God's wrath that his mercy and grace flowed freely to us. It was in the whole act of his punishment and death that God's goodness ultimately triumphed. All of these things occured at the expense of God's Son.



There is no question that good has come from Good Friday. There is also no question that a lot of hard and ugly things occurred in order to accomplish that good. Good Friday is a bitter-sweet reality. Our comemoration of it should be similar. In our joy over having a day off and the opportunity to go shopping or whatever it is you do on Good Friday, take some time to meditate upon the reality of Jesus' death. It was in the cross event that the utter sinfulness of mankind was set against the backdrop of God's infinite goodness. Two opposing powers collided that day and good won out! Maybe that's why we call today, Good Friday.