Friday is Good Because Sunday is Coming!

Friday is good because Sunday is coming!

When I was a kid, I always wondered why Good Friday was called good, when it commemorated what seemed like the most tragic event in history – Jesus Christ suffering horribly and finally dying! How could that possibly be good?!

Knowing that we were the cause of Jesus' suffering and death, made me feel like Good Friday should have been called, "Horrible Friday"!

In Romans 6:23 we read that the wages of sin is death. Our sin has rightfully earned us our death sentence. Due to our rebellious sins, our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to us to live as a man, though innocent, be labeled a sinner, suffer, and die a horrible death to pay for our sins.

Death by crucifixion is not an easy or quick death. Jesus knew it was coming, and I think that brought great anguish! We read in Luke 2:44, “And being in anguish, He prayed more fervently, and His sweat was like drops of blood, falling to the ground.”

Then, when the hour finally came, though he was innocent, He was put on trial, mocked, slapped, spit on, and beaten! Though He was God, He did not strike back, call on His angels or retaliate against His abusers. 

After Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified he was stripped of his clothes, and flogged. Roman flogging was no light affair. He would have been beaten with a whip made of several strands of leather of which each would have been woven together with metal balls with pieces of glass, nails, bone, or twisted metal tied at the end and designed to grab and tear flesh. Each blow of the whip would have torn away chunks of flesh, causing extreme pain and suffering. Many men actually died from flogging, but not Jesus. He was to endure even more suffering and humiliation!

The disciples have been scattered, the faithful are mourning, and our innocent Christ has suffered a most horrible and humiliating public death! So, how can any of this be good?! 

Friday is good because Sunday is coming with His resurrection! Because He lives, we also shall live! Jesus has overcome the world and conquered death and we share in His victory as believers, heirs, and children of God!

Our sins, born of rebellion, have condemned us to death's embrace. Yet in His boundless mercy, our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to walk among us as a mortal, bearing the weight of our transgressions. Innocent, yet branded a sinner, He endured unimaginable agony and a brutal death, all to ransom us from our sins' clutches.

We are now redeemed, reconciled, and have everlasting life in the peace and joy of the resurrection of the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns most high with God the Father in union with Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen!