On this morning, only a couple thousand of years ago, a man
waited below the house of the high priest in Jerusalem.
A prisoner. Surely many prisoners had been housed in that
dungeon, dreading the moment they were handed over to Rome for execution. Some
may have deserved their fate, some may have been victims of a corrupt system
governed more by rule-following and prestige than by their law they claimed to
love so dearly.
But this prisoner was different. He was truly innocent, not
only in matters of the law, but in all matters. He was the perfect Creator of
the universe, captive only to his love for his people and to his promises made
from the beginning of time.
But why do we call this day Good Friday? The day our Lord
was betrayed by friendship’s kiss cannot be good. The morning after a night of slandering,
the morning dawn brought cruelty in the form of beatings, mocking, and a
sentence of death can't be good. Those who had followed him and praised his teaching and even watched him raise the dead to life … now scorned him. Disowned him. Left him
alone without a single soul willing to stand up for him and risk the same fate.
How can it be good that he suffered, and that he suffered alone?
His disciples couldn’t even stay awake to pray with him the
night before such an evil, terrible day.
So why in the world would we call this day “good”? What
could be good in such tragedy and betrayal? How could we celebrate a day that
found humanity at its worst, violently attacking and killing the very being
that gave them the breath of life and formed their bodies within their mothers’
wombs?
We call it good because it is our only hope. We call it good
because there is no other way, not by sacrifice or self-discipline or
scientific exploration or by the pursuit of world peace … THERE IS NO OTHER WAY
we could be saved from our sinful souls.
It is a good Friday when I know that cross, meant for shame
and torture and death, is a glorious trophy to exchange one day for a crown I
don’t deserve. I can call his suffering and death good because he endured every
single moment until it was finished … for me. Because he loved me. In my sin
and ugliness and weakness and failure, he loved me.
And we can call it good because it wasn’t just one person he
loved, but every one of us. His sacrifice was accomplished ONCE FOR ALL. Anyone
who will turn from their sin and look to his cross for forgiveness and new life
may come and receive freely the abundant gift of eternal life. No questions
asked. No qualifications or conditions. The price has been paid. Cursed
humanity has been ransomed.
Only come. Receive. Have faith.
And Friday is good only because of one enduring, eternal
truth. Friday is good because Sunday is coming. Death didn’t keep him. The grave
was forced to give him up. Friday is good because it was the only way we would
know that our Savior is strong enough to take on the enemy we could never, ever
conquer on our own.
Jesus is alive.
