What’s So Good About Good Friday?

What’s So Good About Good Friday?

Psalms 22: 16-18

16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.

   Everything had looked so different on Palm Sunday. The crowds cheered. They called Jesus “King” and threw palm fronds at His feet.  Can you imagine being cheered by thousands?  What a rush!  THAT was a good day!

   Monday and Tuesday were good days.  Jesus took charge and cleared the temple of men practicing unfair business practices.  He was confronted by the religious leaders and He confounded them with His wisdom. 

   Wednesday and Thursday had good moments in them.  Jesus and his friends shared Passover together.  They reclined at the table and chatted and speculated on who would have what position in Jesus’ coming kingdom.  Everything was normal up to the end of the meal when Jesus said He was to be betrayed by one of them.  Then they sang a hymn and went out.  These were good days.

   But then it was Friday.  Good Friday.  Friday was not a good day.  The name doesn’t seem to fit - it wasn’t really a good day.  It was the day Jesus was killed. 

   The Disciples watched as their Teacher was arrested in the middle of the night and taken away.  Most scattered and hid but John and Peter followed along.  Then Peter was confronted by an inquisitive young girl and denied Jesus three times and he ran away.  Not a good day if you were a follower of Jesus.

   The High Priest and his cronies conspired to get Jesus arrested and hired witnesses to testify against Him.  They ran a “Kangaroo Court” to convict Him and then marched Him to the Roman Prefect’s court and threatened Pilate until he caved in and condemned Jesus to crucifixion.  Not a good day for Jesus.

   They took Jesus to a place to be scourged, which is a fancy word for whipped.  He was whipped bloody and tormented by the Roman troops.  He was dragged back to Pilate and presented to the people who rejected Him in favor of a common thug.  No, not a good day at all.  Then this not-good-day turned into a very bad day. 

   The cross. The cross brought terror to millions of people.  The thought of crucifixion frightened the hardest person and broke the strongest who was nailed to one.  Men would scream and beg and plead when they were being hoisted up onto one.  So we don’t like to talk about the crucifixion of Christ.  We like to hear about the crowds He preached to.  We like to hear about the little children coming to Him.  We like to hear about the healings and raising people from the dead.  We don’t like to hear about the scourging and the crown of thorns and the cross and the blood.  The cross is as much a part of the Christian message as any other part of His life.  Paul said “We preach Christ and him crucified.”  We sing songs that declare, “We glory in the cross.”  But in reality we shy away from the cross.  We don’t like to think about the cross.  Friday was a long day.  It started at sundown the night before and didn’t end until just before sunset that day, and during that time Jesus died.  How can we call this Friday Good Friday?

   We can call this Friday “good” because it wasn’t the end of the story.  Like Dr. Tony Campolo preaches, “it was only Friday, but Sunday’s coming!”  The story of Friday was a tragic story, but it was only a part of the whole story.  Friday led to a couple of days of quiet and fear and sadness and then it was Sunday.  Sunday was a good Sunday.  Sunday was the reason Jesus had to go through Friday.  Sunday dawned and a woman walked through the gloom to the garden tomb and discovered that the stone wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  And an angel told her the tomb was empty.  Empty!  The tomb was empty!  As she hurried away, the day brightened and it was a good day.

Stephen Cram                           March 24, 2013                Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 NASB