What Makes “Good Friday” So Good?
April 7th, 2007 at 11:55pm Manchild
Yesterday was “Good Friday.” As a child, I often wondered what made Good Friday so good. On Good Friday, Jesus Christ chose the nails that pierced His hands and feet. On Good Friday, the best Friend anyone could ever have was crucified by unbelieving men who knew not what they were doing. The only crime the rugged Carpenter with strong arms, clean hands, and a pure heart committed was choosing to love people who envied, despised, and feared Him for all the wrong reasons.
On Good Friday, the greatest person who ever lived died because He had the courage to speak truth to power in the spirit of love. On Good Friday, a lot of powerful people sitting in lofty positions of influence made some bad decisions. The unbelieving critics, cynics, and skeptics who mocked the prophetic Preacher adorned His head with a crown of thorns. On Good Friday, the sinless Son of God died a violent death.
On Good Friday, the virgin mother of Jesus, Mary, cried during her dark night of the soul at the foot of the cross still bearing the weight of her only son’s dead body. On Good Friday, a non-violent Nazarene was buried in a rocky grave and guarded by spiritually blinded men to prevent His body from being stolen. Upon first glance, Good Friday didn’t appear to be such a good day for Jesus. For a lot of disillusioned people who loved Jesus, who believed in Him, who followed Him, Good Friday didn’t have a happy ending.
As a child, I didn’t understand why Jesus had to die for nothing on Good Friday. Whenever I watched television shows about the greatest story ever told, I cried for a Person I didn’t even know. As a man, I still cry for people I don’t know. I still don’t understand why good people die so young for all the wrong reasons. But God does and that’s all I needed to know as a manchild. At such a critical age and crucial stage of my personal development, somebody loved my hard head and stubborn, strong-willed behind enough to share with me the truth about the eternal reasons why Good Friday was a good day. I sat down and read the Gospel according to John.
According to John 19:30, Jesus Christ said “IT IS FINISHED.” Searching the Scriptures for the answers to the questions my soul so desperately sought revealed to me the truth that makes people free. I discovered the reasons why Jesus Christ, the actually innocent One, chose the nails and died on a cross between two thieves. On Good Friday, the guiltless One said three words that enabled me to understand what makes Good Friday so good.
As a child, I didn’t understand the cryptic words that filled the pages of the Bible I held in my hands. As a child, I often wondered why Judas betrayed Jesus; why Peter denied Him, why Thomas doubted Him, why Satan tempted Him, why religious people hated Him so; why the disciples followed Him.
But I believed by faith in the physical resurrection of Jesus’ body come Sunday morning. By faith, I believed that a miracle occurred 3 days after His crucifixion. When his antagonistic accusers least expected it, Jesus conquered both Death and the grave. Because Jesus still lives, what happened on Good Friday still gives me hope that it ain’t over until God says it’s over even when our big dreams don’t cooperate.
On Good Friday, I’m reminded that a love like none the world has ever known hung on a rugged cross between two thieves. One believed. One didn’t believe. Only God knows why these two thieves, who were also being crucified on crosses while facing the same set of adverse circumstances, reacted so differently when they observed Jesus hanging on a cross. Only God knows the eternal reasons why two people react to the truth that makes people free so differently.
Hence, Good Friday has become a humbling day of introspection for me, a day to search deep inside the seat of my soul; a day to clean up my thoughts and clear out all the emotional mess that’s cluttering the place where all my secrets hide; a day to crucify my flesh and bury what’s not pleasing to God; a day to forgive and to seek forgiveness.
During Good Friday, I will be asking myself some very important questions. What do I believe about Jesus? Why do I believe what I do about my personal Lord and Saviour? I challenge you to do the same. Come Sunday morning, I hope you will know what you believe about Jesus Christ and why. As always, the choice to believe in Jesus Christ by faith and accept the grace of God is yours alone to make. So choose wisely.
© Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
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Entry Filed under: All About Love, Christianity, Inspiration, Leadership
2 Comments Add your own
1. Lillie Ammann | April 8th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Thank you for this excellent post. I love your comment “it ain’t over until God says it’s over even when our big dreams don’t cooperate.” I also posted about Good Friday on my blog, sharing my experiences with the Way of the Cross and the Vigil.
2. Manchild | April 14th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Hello Lillie,
I’ve been experiencing some “technical” problems with my site so I ask your forgiveness for my tardy responses. I value every comment and appreciate you for taking the time to visit my place in Cyberspace.
Thank you for your gracious words. More times than not, we close the box on our big dreams and unwisely shut the door in God’s face prematurely.
But God is so faithful that He keeps loving us and giving us “grace” and “mercy” in spite of ourselves. How comforting it is to know that God will give us the grace we don’t deserve and the mercy to save us from what we do deserve.
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