Good Friday

I am always puzzled by the name Good Friday. Good in the long run that Jesus died… sure. Good on that day for Jesus? Not so much.

The word “good” has a variety of meaning, including high quality, suitable, skilled, kind, valid, helpful, pleasant, beneficial, obedient, and meticulous or even to produce results.

Do those words fit that Friday?

• High quality—Oh how great is our salvation!
• Suitable—Christ was the only suitable candidate
• Skilled—the soldiers were certainly skilled at crucifixion
• Kind—only God’s kindness could do such a thing for us
• Valid—every bit of the story is totally true and verified
• Helpful—how else may we be free of sin? There is no other way.
• Beneficial—to any of us willing to take the promised offer of forgiveness and eternal life
• Obedient—Christ was totally obedient on our behalf
• Produce results—just look around you and see what a difference Good Friday made and still does.

And so it was that on a really Good Friday—Jesus died for us.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8, NIV)

Prayer – Lord God, never let us forget how good, really good, Good Friday is. Amen