Friday, April 6, 2012

What's so GOOD about GOOD FRIDAY?

Why do we call Good Friday “good,” when it is a such dark and bleak event commemorating a day of suffering and death for Jesus?
For Christians, Good Friday is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most momentous weekend in the history of the world. Ever since Jesus died and was raised, Christians have proclaimed the cross and resurrection of Jesus to be the decisive turning point for all creation. Paul considered it to be “of first importance” that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day, all in accordance with what God had promised all along in the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
On Good Friday we remember the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. It is followed by Easter, the glorious celebration of the day Jesus was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and death and pointing ahead to a future resurrection for all who are united to him by faith (Rom. 6:5).
Still, why call the day of Jesus’ death “Good Friday” instead of “Bad Friday” or something similar? Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.” In English, in fact, the origin of the term “Good” is debated: some believe it developed from an older name, “God’s Friday.” Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins.
As Doug Wilson recently wrote on the Resurgence, in order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. This is simply another way of saying that it is important to understand and distinguish the Law and the Gospel as the “two words” of scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is; then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.
In the same way, Good Friday is “good” because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and salvation to be poured out on the nations. Without that awful day of suffering, sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both “just and the justifier” of those who trust in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God’s gloriously good plan to redeem the world from bondage.
The cross is where we see the convergence of great suffering and God’s forgiveness. Psalm 85:10 sings of a day when “righteousness and peace” will “kiss each other.” The cross of Jesus is where that occurred, where God’s demands, his righteousness, coincided with his mercy. We receive divine forgiveness, mercy, and peace because Jesus willingly took our divine punishment, the result of God’s righteousness against sin. “For the joy set before him” (Heb. 12:2) Jesus endured the cross on Good Friday, knowing it led to his resurrection, our salvation, and the beginning of God’s reign of righteousness and peace.
Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That’s why Good Friday is so dark and so Good.....
By Pastor Justin Holcomb
I don't know who Pastor Holcomb is, but I thank him for this excellent explanation and wanted to share it with you today.

Have a GOOD GOOD FRIDAY
z

19 comments:

Silverfiddle said...

Interesting article! I think I heard somewhere that "good" was intended as in "holy," and that always made sense to me.

Joe said...

Z: Funny (or something). I also used this same article on my Christian blog! Good stuff for Good Friday!
http://scogginsnoggin.blogspot.com/

Always On Watch said...

Isaiah 53!

Ed Bonderenka said...

Excellent post!
I humbly request your consideration of my post on Good Friday today.
God bless.
And Zechariah says in one place
"I was wounded in the house of my friends", and later :
"they shall look on Him whom they have pierced."

Bunkerville said...

Thanks for your excellent post and a reminder of what is really important. All of what we are going through is merely temporal.

Right Truth said...

Nice post. Happy Easter weekend.

Great minds think alike, ha.

Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

Z said...

Debbie, thanks for reminding me of PASSOVER at your blog...will include that here.

Also, I can't comment at your site lately..the little wheel keeps turning but never loading ...:-(

Bunkerville, it sure is, (thank GOD)

Ed, I'll go there now.

AOW...that's so compelling, isn't it!?

Joe, that's amazing! Will go see it now.

Z said...

SF, I have read exactly that....yes, that does make sense.
I concentrated on the information in this piece because I thought it was well explained.

Z said...

I'd like to comment on the MSNBC show Alex Wagner and the hit job on Easter they did this morning, but I just deleted my whole comment.
Not the day for it.

sue hanes said...

Z - Thanks for this post.

I thought about that - why it is called Good Friday and I came up with this:

I LOVE Good Friday - because what Jesus did for us on That Day - is Really Good.

Z said...

http://scogginsnoggin.blogspot.com/

Please check out our friend Joe's blog shown above. We all read his political blog, but his one on faith is excellent, too.
Amazingly enough, as he says here in a comment, he posted exactly the same post I did for today . I think it's more "something" than "Funny", as he implies and probably feels, too!

I'm adding the faith blog to my blog roll...

Rita said...

Happy Easter to Z and all of her followers.

I wish somewhere in our society we had made Good Friday and Easter the holiest of the Holy Days.

Peace to all.

beakerkin said...

Happy Holidays

TS/WS said...

Alert! Alert!

Open your blogger dashboard in one TAB,
and from another TAB - type -
feedburner(dot)google(dot)com;
and claim your feed.
Don't get hijacked TOO!

Google has purchased Feed Burner,
and you MUST Claim Your Feed Now-
don't Get Hijacked.

PASS THIS ALONG!

Z said...

TS/WS...what the heck is that???
I haven't a clue what you mean!

Rita, I just got back from a Good Friday Service...what a blessing a great church is. It was small, good teaching, super music...silence.
Peace to you, too.

Beak, thanks...and same to you. Happy Passover !!

TS/WS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TS/WS said...

Opus 6 Where is Nicky

Z said...

TS/WS, I still don't get it :-)
You don't know that someone with a fairly successful blog can be this naive about computer stuff, but it's true! And it's ME!

So, are all the folks at Opus' place talking about ONE blog that happened with, or??

People are dropping off blog rolls and some of their blog is missing, is that it?
That is something I'd definitely NOT like to happen to me or anybody else!
But, I don't understand what you're saying about how to avoid it...how's you learn that?

Always On Watch said...

Hey, what does that Feedburner comment MEAN?