I have often wondered why this day is called Good Friday. Oh, I know the “official” reason- it’s the day Jesus died to show the depths of God’s love for us, to overcome our sin and separation from God and from each other. Some people say it was the day that our penalty was paid, but over the years I have begun to think this whole judicial way of looking at our relationship with God and each other is, well, at best, inadequate.
In most ways, the term Good Friday does not seem to fit. It’s the day that showed how we- the human race- can be so creative in torturing and murdering those who threaten our way of thinking. (I shouldn’t really say the day. As it turns out, a cursory look at our history shows it’s one of the many days we do that.) The depth of our depravity, it seems, has no bounds.
But maybe it is Good in that we are told the ultimate truth- that the real way of life is sacrifice. And what Jesus did on that day is a model for us all.
Paul, an early follower of Jesus, wrote to other followers in the city of Philippi and said that we should have the same mind, or attitude, as that of Jesus. He gave up all that it was to be God, became fully human, and died a horrible death on a cross. Paul concludes by saying “Therefore, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
There was a popular little praise song years ago that went:
He is Lord, He is Lord!
He is risen from the dead and he is Lord!
Ev’ry knee shall bow, ev’ry tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord.
As nice as it was to sing that chorus, it subverted the Scriptures. The reason, Paul says, he is Lord is not because he rose from the dead, but because he died on a cross.
The way of sacrifice is the way of life. Jesus taught it. Jesus lived it. And Jesus died to prove it. Jesus also told us that if we want to be his followers, we must do it, too. It is one of the few “no option” things Jesus told us. “If anyone wishes to come after (follow) me, they must deny themself, and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake, that is the one who will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)
Maybe that is why it is called Good Friday. Because we can see clearly what it will cost to be truly human, to be what God made us to be. There is no guessing about it. Now we know. And as hard as it may be, I think it’s Good.
Michael Henderson 