What makes Good Friday good

Riding to school this week, my daughters asked the question, why do they call this Friday good?  Now they knew the answer for just a second after they asked, one responded because Jesus died on the cross for us. That is true, that is what makes it good.  But looking at the events that day on the surface still makes it difficult to understand why we call it good.

Crucifixion is one of the most painful, horrific deaths that anyone could face.  It was so bad that it was illegal to crucify a Roman Citizen.  It was a means of death reserved for slaves and for those who rebelled against Rome.  As I said, it is a cruel form of execution.  It is an agonizing and slow death.  Death typically results from shock, exposure and ultimately asphyxiation.  Hanging from a cross constricts the diaphragm, now allowing the person to breathe.  The one way to take a breath is to release the pressure on your arms by pushing up against the nails that have been driven into the feet.  This would require continuous work that could go on for days, until exhaustion overtook the victim or mercifully the legs were broken and the person suffocated.

The criminal would have a certificate of his crime placed over him.  The criminal was indebted to society and everyone must know the crime the person was paying for with his death.  Jesus' crime, Pilate wrote, "The King of The Jews."  He was an innocent man according to Pilate, but was condemned to die for being an insurrectionist who dared to call himself a king.

An innocent man died a monstrous death, why is that good?  It is good because another certificate was placed on the cross.  A certificate placed there by God the father.  For you see, on the cross a divine transaction took place.  The one who was innocent of any crime against the state was also innocent of any sin against God.  Yet in that time between the 6th and 9th hour, a darkness covered the earth as God wrote the certificate of the crime, the sins of humanity.  In those dark moments, the full weight of all the crimes of all humanity was placed upon Jesus.  Every murder committed by hand or by words, every stolen merchandise or look of lust, every vile act or thought, every hidden crime or those exposed to the world were placed upon Jesus as if He was guilty of them all. 

In those moments the punishment for those crimes was placed upon Jesus.  That punishment was not the nails of iron that pierced his hands and feet.  It was not the crown of thorns that tore his brow.  It was not the agony of struggling for breath.  His punishment was the piercing, tearing, suffocating wrath of God placed upon His only begotten son.  As a lamb led to the slaughter, he was silent.  He did not cry out because of the whip, or the thorns or the nails, He cried out in agony because of the wrath, saying My God, why have you forsaken me.

And so Jesus died not because of shock, or exposure, or even asphyxiation.  He died because he gave up his life.  The debt had been paid.  He said, It is finished, paid in full.  Then he gave up his spirit to the father.  No one took his life, he gave it, and He died.  But on the third day, He rose again.

So on the surface.  Good Friday looks bad.  On the surface, Good Friday is the day the evil triumphed.  On the surface, Good Friday is a day of defeat.  But in reality Good Friday is the day that good triumphed over evil., it is the day of victory.  It is good.  Think about it.