Here Are My Thoughts

Over two thousand years ago today, a 33-year-old Jewish man was nailed to a cross. Before that, he was nearly beaten to death, and before that, he was accused of and arrested for crimes he didn’t commit. And after all of that, he died on that cross.

We call this event Good Friday.

What?

How could any of that be considered good? The brutality, the injustice, the inhumanity-if anything, “Good Friday” is the exact opposite of good, isn’t it? So why do we call it good? I think there are a few reasons…

Good Friday is good because it shows The Father’s grace and The Son’s love. 

I was intentionally a little ambiguous up front about the events of Good Friday. So here’s the rest of the story: that 33-year-old Jewish man? His name is Jesus. And he’s not just a man, he’s the Son of God. He wasn’t killed unwillingly-he got on that cross for a purpose and a people. Jesus died FOR sin, but not his own sin, because he was innocent. But here’s the thing about sin-it requires death (Romans 6:23). This makes sense when we think about it in legal terms-crime deserves punishment. And sin is crime, or rebellion, against the will of God. And we’ve all sinned, even the best of us. So we deserved to die. It’s hard to hear, but it’s true.

But here’s where The Father’s grace comes in. Because on Good Friday, God, in his wisdom and power, driven by his love for us, implemented a plan to punish the sin without punishing the sinner. And that plan is where Jesus’s love is shown-because that plan required a willing sacrifice. If we weren’t going to take the fall for our sin, someone needed to take it for us. And Someone did. Good Friday is good because, on that cross, Jesus, who was completely sinless, was treated as the worst of sinners, so that we, the worst of sinners, could be treated as if we were completely sinless. In short, the death of Jesus allowed us to be right with God. It was an unbelievably selfless act-an act that required relentless grace by the Father and outrageous love by the Son.

But it’s not the only reason Good Friday is good.

Good Friday is good because it empowers us to be good.

When Jesus died, he made it so that whoever would surrender their lives to Him as their Savior would have eternal life. He paid the debt that we owed, as the old hymn goes. But that’s not all his death accomplished. It didn’t just save us from the penalty, or punishment, of sin-it saved us from the power of sin. When we give our lives to Christ, we get eternal life in Heaven, but we also get the Spirit of God, who comes and lives inside of us. The Spirit empowers us to live within the will of God-something we have no hope of doing on our own. Jesus dying for our sin means that we don’t have to sin anymore. We’re free from its power over us-because Jesus broke its power. (If you want to know more of what I’m talking about, go read Romans 6-8.)

So Good Friday is good because Jesus not only redeems us, but empowers us.

And yet, there’s still more…

Good Friday is good because it’s the beginning of the story, not the end.

Last Sunday night, I had the immense privilege of speaking to our Student Ministry at FBCW. One of my main things we talked about was that what we often think is the end is really just the beginning. 

There really doesn’t seem to be anything more final than death. It’s the end of life. What was is gone. When someone dies, the expectation is that they will stay dead.

And that’s what everyone assumed about Jesus, too. So much so that those who knew him best, his closest followers, all ran away and hid when he died, afraid that they would be forced to follow in his footsteps. When Jesus died, it seemed to be his end.

But what we often think is the end is really just the beginning. So, spoiler alert: Jesus died, but he didn’t stay dead. Good Friday was the opening act, it wasn’t the finale. The story wasn’t over.

And that means that your story isn’t, either. I don’t know where you are in life as you read this today, but I know this: it may be where you are, but it doesn’t have to be where you end. Good Friday shows us that there’s a purpose in the pain, that God is always working even when He feels absent, that He uses death as an avenue to unimaginable life. Good Friday is a promise that what is ahead is greater than what is behind-because it’s not the end of the story. It’s the beginning. 

And that’s what makes it so good.

 

-Brett

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” -John 10:10