Good (?) Friday

You’ve all heard the word oxymoron before.  By definition it means two words that seem to be in direct opposition to each other.  Jumbo Shrimp or Military Intelligence are a couple of examples.  How about Good Friday?  I don’t know about you, but as a Christian those two are the most oxymoronic pairing I can think of. In fact not every Christian society calls this day “good”.  The Germans, among others, refer to it as Dark Friday instead.

 I’m aware of all the good that came out of that horrific day, but those 24 hours were anything but good.  Imagine that you are there, following Jesus through the mockery of his trial, flinching as each merciless lash of the whip flays his flesh.  Close at his heels, you can feel the spittle on your own face, as the King of Kings is spat upon.  The endless road to the cross is filled with hurled abuses, both physical and verbal until you arrive at Golgotha, the place of the skull. Grief and fear tighten your throat muscles, as hot tears begin to flow.  Jesus lays down the rough wooden cross, readying himself for the crucifixion, the cruelest form of torture the Romans could devise.  At this point, most mortal men would have already been dead, but Jesus is no mere mortal. Worst of all, he carries upon him the accumulated sins of the centuries.  Sins of the past, the present and the future, yes, yours and mine, he willingly takes the punishment for.  The excruciating physical pain that he must have felt is horrible to even think about, but the emotional torment brought on by that load of sin was unbearable.  Soon he is tied unto the splintery beams, his feet and wrists pierced with heavy spikes, then the cross is raised into position.  In agony he calls out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  For 3 long hours he hangs there, alone, or so it seems.  

For many unbelievers this is the crux (no pun intended) of their unbelief.  How could a loving God do that to his own son, they rightly ask.  What kind of parent would willingly inflict this heinous act on their own precious child?  Lest we forget, this is God on the cross, suffering, and bleeding, for you and me, as our perfect lamb of sacrifice. He wasn’t dragged to the cross against his will, no, he went freely. It is theorized that over 2.5 million Jews were in Jerusalem for the Passover that year, and over 250,000 lambs were sacrificed, but only one, the Lamb of God’s death fulfilled the righteous requirement.  No other sacrifice would ever be necessary; the debt we owed was paid in full, by his shed blood.

 Yes, it was a dark day indeed, when you look at it from the human perspective, but our salvation could not have been secured in any other way. Now that is good, even if the day itself is Bad. So I guess you can say, the end justified the means.  I don’t pretend to understand it all, but one day I will.  Today I am content, and awe struck, once again, as I recall the passion of Good Friday, and the unmerited grace that God offers to all who believe.  

 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”  Isaiah 53:5