It’s that time of the year again. Chocolate bunny sales are booming. Egg’s are disappearing from grocery stores quicker than milk and bread during a blizzard. Kids are overwhelmed with excitement as they anticipate the thrill of the upcoming hunt. But amidst all of these fun festivities of Easter, something much more serious is being remembered a couple days before hiding eggs: Good Friday.
But how has the day the most evil act in human history took place come to be known as “Good Friday”? Let’s see if we can shine some light on the answer.
I’m not going to spend time in this post debating whether or not the Christian observance of Easter was influenced or not by Pagan holidays. If you are interested in reading about that, I would suggest checking this article out that defends Christianity’s originality in the matter by clicking here.
What I want to do is answer this question: What’s so good about “Good Friday”?
Growing up I was confused about this. I understood that as a Christian I was celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact our church and community put on an annual “SonRise” pageant that reenacts the final days of Jesus’ life including His death, burial, and resurrection. Shout out to my mom who still faithfully volunteers every year as a “brick maker” in the pageants Jerusalem market place scene! Its an amazing experience and if you ever get the chance to visit Chattanooga Tn. during Easter time, look it up and check it out!
Back to what I was saying. Growing up I understood that Resurrection Sunday was good, but how was crucifying Jesus to a Roman cross on Friday good? It seems so brutal and violent. The crucifixion seemingly makes the central figure of Christianity look so weak and defeated. As I’ve gotten older and have grown more mature in my faith, I’m starting to see the goodness of that dark and gloomy day.
And how dark and gloomy it was! The son of God was betrayed by one of His twelve disciples, falsely accused and condemned by the religious leaders, and handed over to be killed to the Romans. What makes this the most evil act in human history is the fact that all of this was done to Jesus in His perfect innocence. Jesus never sinned once.
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin .” – Hebrews 4:15
“You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.” – 1 John 3:5
“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.” – 1 Peter 2:22
I can understand and see the justice in punishing wicked criminals deserving of death, but how can we understand Jesus being murdered in cold blood? How is there justice in the death of the one who healed the sick and fed the hungry? How is there any justice in the bloody torture and death of the one who came preaching a message of life and never turned anyone away that came to Him? I’ll tell you the answer. From a human perspective, there’s no justice at all, but from God’s perspective, absolute and perfect justice took place.
God’s perspective is the one we must adopt if we are going to see the goodness in “Good Friday”. You see, the death of Jesus was no accident. It was not the plan of saving humanity going terribly wrong, it was the plan of saving humanity being fulfilled. The Triune God had planned from eternity past to send Jesus to die for the sins of His people.
“For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” – Acts 4:27-28
This is vitally important for us to understand. Gods predetermined plan was for Jesus to be crucified and killed. But why? Why would God predestine Jesus to suffer and be murdered violently next to two thieves on a wooden cross? Like I said before, for absolute and perfect justice to take place. But I thought Jesus was innocent? He was, and that’s why it wasn’t justice for His sins but for ours. The only way for God to save fallen and sinful humanity was to send Jesus to die in their place. God is a perfect being, who cannot let sin go unpunished. To redeem a people for Himself, God sent His son Jesus to die in their place, taking the wrath and punishment they deserved to satisfy the perfect justice of the Father. How good is that?
Well it wouldn’t be that good if the story ended there. Praise be to God that it doesn’t! Three days later God raised Jesus from the grave and the first Christian Easter was inaugurated. Christ walked out of the tomb in shining glory, having defeated death while accomplishing what the Father had sent Him to do.
Jesus was then given total authority over Heaven and Earth. This means He has the power to save sinners who place their faith in Him in exchange for His righteousness, while at the same time having power to judge and condemn those to hell who reject His payment on the cross. Like I said before, God is perfect and total justice will be executed towards all of us, either through the cross or in Hell.
Not only is this the message of Good Friday, but this is the message of Good News. My challenge for you is to really meditate this Easter season on what Jesus did on the cross. If you have already accepted Him as your personal savior, I pray your heart melts even more and that praise will be lifted up for the perfect love that is displayed in what He did for you. If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, I pray that God will open your heart and grant you repentance. Turn to Jesus as the ONLY way of salvation and be forgiven of the sin that is condemning you to Hell.
May we continue to celebrate not only Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, but every day of the week knowing we have been saved by grace through faith in the One who paid it all for us on the cross!
I hope this has shined some light! Like and follow for future post updates! Happy Easter!
Shine the Light and Write 