Good Friday

A few years ago, I was talking with the staff at a previous church about our favorite time

of the year. Everyone was sharing about how much they enjoyed spring or Christmas.

During our conversation, one of the young ladies told us she hated Good Friday. She

couldn’t think of anything that was good about it. My initial thought was, ‘I can relate to

that.’ When I think about the suffering and death that Jesus went through on Good

Friday, it certainly isn’t my favorite day of the year.

She went on to explain that it just didn’t mean anything to her, and she never understood

what the big deal about shopping was anyway. That made me scratch my head for a

moment, until I realized she had confused Good Friday with Black Friday. They are two

totally opposite days.

Of course, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving that has become synonymous with

the feeding frenzy of shopping for the holidays. Black Friday represents one of the things

wrong in our world. Over-indulging wasteful spending flies in the face of what Christmas

is all about.

Good Friday is the day we remember the excruciating suffering that Jesus endured on

the cross. If you’ve never read an account of what Jesus endured, I would encourage

you to do so. But be warned it is not for the faint of heart.

From the scourging, to being forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, to being nailed to

the cross and then hanging on the cross for six hours. The brutality and inhumanity is

mind-boggling.

So, while it may be difficult to see what is ‘good’ about such a day it reminds us that

‘goodness’ comes from our Heavenly Father. It was his goodness that sent Jesus into

the world. It was his goodness that allowed Jesus to take the punishment we deserved.

It was his goodness that resurrected Jesus three days later.

I still have a hard time finding something good about this day. Except, that the events

of Good Friday led to the most Wonderful Sunday ever.

I hope to see you on Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Marty