What’s So Good About Good Friday?

Today is Good Friday.

And, outwardly, there is nothing good about it.

Because today is the day we remember Jesus’s death on a cross.

An innocent man. A good man. A perfect man.

Murdered.

And not just murdered. Whipped. Flogged. Beaten. Mocked, jeered, and spat upon by the crowds. Bloodied by a crown of thorns, stripped of any basic human dignity, forced to march up a hill carrying the instrument of his own demise. Then and only then were the nails driven into his hands and feet, yet another source of agony as he was lifted into the sky for all to witness his slow, brutal death.

Good Friday was not good at all.

In fact, it was absolutely horrific.

Even more so when we take our eyes off the cross long enough to realize that we were the ones who put Jesus there.

So what’s so good about Good Friday?

Absolutely nothing….if the story had ended there.

Good Friday is a good Friday because Jesus took my sin with Him to that cross. It’s good because His death paid the penalty once and for all for all of the ways you and I had ever–and would ever–choose ourselves over our God. It’s good because, with His blood, Jesus washed us cleaned and forged a pathway to everlasting communion with the Father. It’s good because He did what I could have never done for myself: He made me righteous.

He gave me life.

He gave me hope.

Good Friday is good because it reminds us of the need for our own death and resurrection in this life. It illustrates God’s love and inspires us to live a life honoring it. Not because we are worthy but because God is. Mostly, though, it reminds us that there is no victory without sacrifice.

Jesus made that ultimate sacrifice.

For you. For me.

For us.

But He also assured our ultimate victory.

Good Friday is good, friends, because Sunday is coming.