What is so Good about Good Friday?

As a child, I wondered what was good about Good Friday. The only thing I could think of was I got a day off from school. I could think of many things that seemed bad though. Things like on that day we remembered that Jesus Christ was beaten, whipped, mocked, treated horribly, and finally killed. None of those seemed like good things to my child’s mind. In that kind of thinking, I was like the Disciples. To them it seemed like a day of disaster, tragedy, and grief.

I remember seeing Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ.” In that film, he powerfully portrays all those things. He also hints at some of the reasons why it really is a good day for us. Through flashbacks, comments, and episodes like the repentant thief we see that Jesus did all that out of love for us and to save us. As I grew these two things were the first reasons I could understand as to why it was “Good Friday.”It is a day when we see forgiveness in action. Remember Jesus’ saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” {Luke 23:34} He really meant it even though they did not ask for it.

Paul wrote to the Colossians about that and took it a step further. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." {Colossians 2:13-15}

As wonderful as the forgiveness and salvation we have as a result of the cross, something else happened. That day Satan was defeated!. In that last verse Paul describes as a total victory like those proclaimed in a Roman triumphal parade. The cross ended with a victory of cosmic and eternal dimensions.

In the movie there is a sinister character tempting Jesus in the Garden, and then seen in the background almost gloating with anticipation of victory; it is portraying our enemy Satan. At the end of the movie, the scene shifts abruptly from the hill with the three crosses to a desolate hilltop with that character screaming in frustration and defeat. It was Mel Gibson’s way of showing this important truth!

As that day closed Jesus was put in the tomb, the entry closed with a large stone, sealed, and guarded. It looked like it is all over. However, Sunday morning proved it was not. The guards were stunned, the stone rolled away and the empty tomb showed Christ arose. The cross is only one part of a very good series of events.

Now as I am maturing in Christ every year I, appreciate more and more how Good Friday is “Good.” Because of it I can be forgiven, saved from my sins, know eternal life, not have to fear, and be part of a joyous victory because Jesus Christ died and rose for me and you too.

This Good Friday, celebrate, appreciate, and thank God for his incredible love for you and for all the “good” he did for you that day God the Son Jesus Christ suffered, bleed and died on the cross.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker March 2005



Articles by Rev. Daniel B. Baker :: Webmaster: Joseph I. Baker