“What’s so good about Good
Friday?” After just presiding at two funerals over the last week I doubt the
families would call the day they bury their loved ones ‘good.’ So why is the
church’s biggest funeral of the year — for Jesus — called good?” Some people
think ‘Good Friday’ evolved from ‘God’s Friday,’ just like ‘goodbye’ evolved
from ‘God be with you.’
According to Rev. Ross Lockhart of the West Vancouver United Church, The ‘goodness’ of Jesus’
grappling with sin and death on the cross is vitally important because without
His ultimate sacrifice, there would be no salvation for us. As I've heard
before, "He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not
pay." Hebrews 9:22 declares, "...and
without shedding of blood is no remission." The power of shed blood is
a truth also understood by our Jewish friends who are celebrating Passover and
the spreading of blood on the doorposts so the angel of death would pass over
the first born of Israel. As a
Christian, I praise Jesus for the blood that He shed for our sins.
The good in Good Friday
lies in what God has done for us. But
that’s only half of it. Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘You have to be born again;
you have to be born of the water and the Spirit.’ The goodness of Good Friday is only
complete when we experience not just what God has done for us, but what God has done in
us through the new birth of the Holy Spirit.
This day is good, too, because, though it is linked to death, it is also linked to life--resurrection life. The celebration of Easter is right around the corner! See, death was not the end; it was actually the beginning. Jesus embraced death to defeat death. He sacrificed life to offer life.
This day is good, too, because, though it is linked to death, it is also linked to life--resurrection life. The celebration of Easter is right around the corner! See, death was not the end; it was actually the beginning. Jesus embraced death to defeat death. He sacrificed life to offer life.
But He
is not to be alone in this. When we give our lives over to Christ, which we
call dying to self, then we begin to truly live. Galatians 2:20 puts it like
this: "I have been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
That is indeed good news!
Have a Good Friday as we look forward to a Great Easter!
Have a Good Friday as we look forward to a Great Easter!
Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle
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