Good Friday
Today is Good Friday, the day we remember our Lord's death. It has always struck me as intriguing that we employ the adjective "Good" to describe that fateful day. Necessary? Unavoidable? Redemptive? There is a good case to be made for these modifiers. And I'm sure there are others which would make sense as well, yet in spite of the many options we have chosen the word "Good."
I'm not saying I disagree with the choice. I am saying, though, that we should be mindful of the rationale behind, and the implications of, this choice. Jesus Christ was crucified. Having lived a life of perfect love and absolute holiness, He was unjustly accused, convicted and torturously murdered. In light of the fact that it is not difficult to see the bad, yea evil, of that Friday, on what grounds, then, do we possibly describe it as "Good?"
The answer? On the grounds of Jesus' own testimony. He was the One who said, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it remains alone. But if it will die it will bring forth much fruit." It was Jesus who said, "No man takes my life from Me. I lay it down for my sheep." To his bewildered and heartbroken disciples, just hours before His abduction, Jesus said, "It is in your best interests that I go away. For if I don't go away the Holy Spirit will not be able to come. But if I go away the Father will send the Holy Spirit to you in my name."
It is fair to say that the Friday in question was, and remains, the single worst Friday since time began. And in what surely must be history's greatest irony, that same Friday was, and remains, the greatest Friday of all time. In one twenty-four-hour span, mankind reached its lowest moral ebb, committing the unfathomable atrocity of killing God when He came and lived among us. And yet in that same small span of time God committed an act of love so Divine that for two thousand years we have been trying to grasp the fullness therein.
On that famous/infamous Friday, God underscored the eternal truth that, ultimately, good is bigger than bad, love is more powerful than hate, and life is larger than death. As the Apostle Paul would later say, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!" And again, it was Paul who declared that on that pivotal weekend, "Death was swallowed up by Life!"
I still find it difficult to say, "Happy Good Friday." Probably never will. And yet I deeply believe, as a matter of fact it is the bedrock of my faith, that my happiness and yours is possible because of the goodness of that day.
I look forward to being with you this Resurrection Sunday to worship the Risen Lord, to partake of His life through communion, and to celebrate together our new life and blessed hope in Him.
Peace,
Stan
I'm not saying I disagree with the choice. I am saying, though, that we should be mindful of the rationale behind, and the implications of, this choice. Jesus Christ was crucified. Having lived a life of perfect love and absolute holiness, He was unjustly accused, convicted and torturously murdered. In light of the fact that it is not difficult to see the bad, yea evil, of that Friday, on what grounds, then, do we possibly describe it as "Good?"
The answer? On the grounds of Jesus' own testimony. He was the One who said, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it remains alone. But if it will die it will bring forth much fruit." It was Jesus who said, "No man takes my life from Me. I lay it down for my sheep." To his bewildered and heartbroken disciples, just hours before His abduction, Jesus said, "It is in your best interests that I go away. For if I don't go away the Holy Spirit will not be able to come. But if I go away the Father will send the Holy Spirit to you in my name."
It is fair to say that the Friday in question was, and remains, the single worst Friday since time began. And in what surely must be history's greatest irony, that same Friday was, and remains, the greatest Friday of all time. In one twenty-four-hour span, mankind reached its lowest moral ebb, committing the unfathomable atrocity of killing God when He came and lived among us. And yet in that same small span of time God committed an act of love so Divine that for two thousand years we have been trying to grasp the fullness therein.
On that famous/infamous Friday, God underscored the eternal truth that, ultimately, good is bigger than bad, love is more powerful than hate, and life is larger than death. As the Apostle Paul would later say, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!" And again, it was Paul who declared that on that pivotal weekend, "Death was swallowed up by Life!"
I still find it difficult to say, "Happy Good Friday." Probably never will. And yet I deeply believe, as a matter of fact it is the bedrock of my faith, that my happiness and yours is possible because of the goodness of that day.
I look forward to being with you this Resurrection Sunday to worship the Risen Lord, to partake of His life through communion, and to celebrate together our new life and blessed hope in Him.
Peace,
Stan
Labels: Easter, Good Friday
posted by Clear Head Space | 4:32 PM
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