Whats so good about Good Friday

As a child, I clearly remember asking my mum “Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?”
After all what’s so good about it!

What is so good when a man is betrayed and abandoned by his friends?

What is so good about when an honest person is found guilty and sentenced to death for telling the truth?

What is so good about the promised king of Israel being beaten & spat upon & mocked by the heavy hand of a foreign army?

What is so good about the future hope of the world being nailed to a crude wooden cross – a device of torture and execution?

What is so good about son of man being laughed at by those he came to save and ridiculed by those beside him who are in the same situation as he?

What is so good about the son of God crying out at the top of his voice “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus – God made flesh – the one who created the universe cries out to the almighty father.

Normally in the Bible, when we hear Jesus speak it’s a great thing. A blind man receives his sight with the words “Be opened”. Another, lame from Birth is able to walk again with.
The disciples’ fears are ceased as Jesus commands the wind to stop and the waves to be stilled.
The sad and lonely are comforted as Jesus calls “Come Out!” and Lazarus walks from the tomb. When we hear Jesus speak, it is normally with power and authority about, but then, we hear the weak, pitiful cry to God. The pain; the agony; the distress; the suffering; ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

How could a loving father permit this to happen? Why would he allow these wicked men to do this? Why?

Is Jesus not the King of Kings? Is he not the beginning and the end? Listen to these words that his cousin had to say - John 1:27 - "Behold, the Lamb of God”… What a beautiful image, a perfect, peaceful lamb. But John continued - "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[i]

And there is the answer – sin! Jesus came into the world to take away that sin of the world!
All this pain and suffering happened so that our sin might be removed from us.

Sin you see had to be dealt with. It could not be ignored. Something had to happen. Under the old system of Jewish law, a lamb was sacrificed. The blood of a lamb however is only a temporary measure. It wasn’t the solution, but rather a reminder of the cost of our disobedience. After all, how can the life of an animal be equal that of a human?

In Jesus we find man who was without sin. He lived a life of perfect obedience to God.
And as Jesus hung there on the cross he took our sin upon himself. As Jesus blood flowed from his wounds, we can be washed clean of our sins. Jesus died so that we can be forgiven from our sins and have the opportunity to live in a perfect relationship with God.

In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, speaking 700 years before:
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa 53:4-5)

It is Friday. We hear the taunts of his own people rejecting him as if they were our own.
On that day, Jesus was crowned King the Roman soldiers placed that crown of thorns on his head. And Jesus wasn’t glorified on a thrown, but rather on that cross. And we see the creator of the universe isolated and forsaken. We hear the confession of the centurion “Surely this man was the son of God”. Darkness surrounds us as his body is laid in the tomb. But do not fear; it is all going according to plan.
On Sunday we will see the victory over death! On Sunday we will see the proof that our sin is conquered and we can be reconciled to God!
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming![ii]

[i] Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent, Multnomah Press (Portland1992).

[ii] Lyrics: Tree 63, Sunday, Sunday 2007 Inpop Records.