Good Friday

After having just attended a Sacrificial Breakfast this morning I am wondering why we use the term Good Friday? The passion of Christ was not something that I would have immediately looked at and called "Good." Yet, as we gathered today and will gather tonight for services to remember the passion and death of Jesus Christ, should we be reminded of the suffering alone? This Good Friday should we be reminded of all that Christ went through on our behalf? Is this what Good Friday is to mean for all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

I believe we can call it Good Friday because we know the end of the story. I believe we can look to the passion, suffering, and death as "Good" because we know how the whole thing worked out. I do not believe that Christ-followers at the cross that day would have called it "Good." The pain and anguish of that day would have precluded them from saying anything of the sort. If the truth were known I would imagine they would not have been able to say much of anything about that day. There would have been crying so heavy that they would not have known what else to do that day. I don't believe that words would have been able to express the depth of emotion the followers of Christ around the cross would have felt.

And yet Sunday was coming! Good Friday is only good in the sense that it represents the height, length, depth, and width of Christ's love for us. Good Friday is only good in the sense that the grave was only temporary. Good Friday is only good in the sense that the shadow that was over all of humanity would be lifted as the stone was rolled away. Good Friday is only good in the light and anticipation of Easter Sunday. Good Friday is only good when we have the assurance that by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and we too are sons and daughters of God. We come to this Good Friday with the assurance and the knowledge that we are joint heirs with Christ; the Christ of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

So I can't help but experience the sadness of Good Friday. I can't help but feel the emotion surrounding Christ's suffering and death. I also cannot escape the fact that Sunday is coming. Easter Sunday is coming. Out of life comes death, out of death comes Resurrection, out of resurrection comes new life in Christ Jesus. May I live in the new life of resurrection. May I remember the passion, the suffering, and the death of Jesus that took place on "Good Friday" But may I live in the reality of the resurrected and Risen Lord of Easter Sunday as well. The two must be held in tension because they are very different realities. The two must be realized together in order to create the new reality of Christianity for all who follow Christ.

I pray that this is truly a Good Friday for all who follow Christ!