The Good in Good Friday

As Mary stood at the foot of the cross watching her son beaten, battered, and dying, I wonder if she thought, This is a good day.

In her wise way, I am sure she reflected on what was taking place and in her mother’s heart, tried to process how all of this could fit into the proclamation that the angel made over her when her son was conceived in her womb. “Blessed art thou among women! And blessed is the fruit of thy womb …For he shall save his people from their sin.”

For Mary and all her son’s disciples, Good Friday could not have seemed so good. But, for those of us who now look back on Golgotha’s Hill and comprehend the significance of what took place that fateful day, it was a good and, dare I say, glorious day.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12, King James Version

As Jesus took our sin and bore the wrath of God poured upon both His spiritual and physical being, He met the requirements to effect our redemption. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23.

When Jesus uttered His final words, “It is finished,” His blood was poured upon the Mercy Seat, and the wrath of God that was ours to suffer, was appeased.

I saw sin at its worst when I first experienced through Scriptures, books, artworks and films what Jesus suffered on that historic day.

I was a bystander witnessing the awful nature of sinful man as the crowd shouted, “Crucify him!” They wanted his agony and his blood. I wondered, How could these people be so cruel?

Good Friday was not good.

"I was a bystander witnessing the awful nature of sinful man as the crowd shouted, 'Crucify him!' They wanted His agony and His blood. I wondered, How could these people be so cruel? Good Friday was not good." Share on X

Then, in God’s mercy, I realized I crucified Him. I deserved the forty lashes, the crown of thorns, the beating and mocking. It was my sin that nailed Jesus to that Cross. He laid down his life and suffer in my place, not because He had to, but because He loved me. It was all for me. He bore my wrath. He rescued me from a fate worse than death. He saved me from an eternal torment, and He was happy to do it.

“… [W]ho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:2b.

Good Friday? Yes, it was a Good Friday because of what Jesus did, not just for me, but for all who put their trust in him.

But Good Friday doesn’t complete our redemption.

Stay with me in this saga. Resurrection Day is coming!

(Repost from 4/2022)