Good Friday is the day when Christians all over the world celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is understandable that one would wonder, “Why celebrate His crucifixion?” If the crucifixion was as gruesome and sadistic and horrifying as depicted in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, why would anyone celebrate such an event? That’s really an excellent question. A Roman crucifixion was a prolonged and torturous form of execution. Why would anyone celebrate that? Why would anyone call it Good Friday?
It is difficult to grasp the meaning of Good Friday until we grasp the horror of human sin. The breaking of God’s law by sin of every sort has turned God’s paradise into a paradise lost. War and aggression, adultery and infidelity, envy and greed, murder and hate, dishonesty, racism and injustices of every kind have made this planet a dangerous place. Can anyone look at the world scene today and believe that the world can be saved without first dealing with the reality of human sin? Can we honestly deny human responsibility?
Simply put, God’s dilemma was that on the one hand His justice demanded judgment, but on the other His love desired mercy. How could God be just and merciful at the same time? If God is the judge of all the Earth, MUSTN’T HE BE JUST? And if He loves each and every one of us, wouldn’t He desire to be merciful? Do you see the dilemma?
To Christians Good Friday is Good because the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was God’s way of being just and showing mercy. The crucifixion of Jesus happened because God loves us. The Apostle Paul wrote simply that “Christ died for our sins.” Jesus speaking of Himself said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” When Jesus was crucified as judgment for our sins, it was because God loves us. We celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because it was God’s plan to judge our sin through the crucifixion of His Son, Jesus. Good Friday is good because it is the ultimate expression of God’s love, GOODNESS AND GRACE.
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 the resurrection. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, so forgiveness and salvation could be poured out to the nations. Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the death blow in God’s good plan to redeem the world from sin.
