What’s Good about Good Friday?

©April 6, 2007 Rick Goettsche

This evening we gather to celebrate Good Friday. In many places around the country and the world, children are out of school and some people didn’t have to work today, all because today is Good Friday. So, you might ask, what makes this day so special? Well, this day commemorates the day that Jesus was crucified. If you saw the movie The Passion of the Christ, you have seen a pretty good depiction of what happened on Good Friday. Basically, on that morning—the morning before Passover was to start—Jesus was brought before the various leaders in Jerusalem, both Jewish and Roman leaders, to stand trial for the “crimes” he had committed. What actually happened is that Jesus was railroaded—he was convicted on trumped up charges and sentenced to death.

After the death sentence was handed down by Pilate, the Roman leader (who was the only person who could hand down a death sentence), Jesus was taken and flogged. He was beaten to the point that he was barely recognizable anymore. He was mocked by the guards, who taunted him as the King of the Jews and dressed him in robes, then spat on him and beat him some more, then they jammed a crown made of thorns onto his head. Then they paraded Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem, forcing him to carry the piece of wood that he would later be nailed to. When he got to Golgotha, the place where the crucifixion was to take place, they nailed his hands and feet to a wooden cross and pulled the cross upright. Jesus hung on the cross—struggling even to breathe—for several hours before dying. Just before the sun set for the day, Jesus was taken down from the cross and placed in a borrowed tomb.

As we recount the story of what happened on Good Friday, you may begin to ask, why in the world do we call it good? Wouldn’t it seem much more appropriate to call it “Bad Friday” or “Black Friday”? I mean you could imagine that there would probably be times when we celebrate a person’s death—usually in the case of a person who was a tyrant—someone like Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, or Adolf Hitler. But this is nothing like that. Jesus was completely the opposite of these people, so why do we celebrate the death of a man who healed the sick, who gave to the poor, and who cared for those who followed him?

Well, the celebration today is not just about the fact that Jesus died, it’s really about why that death was significant. We’re not merely celebrating his death, but more than that, we’re celebrating the reason he died. So, in order for us to understand what makes Good Friday good, we have to examine exactly why Jesus died. There are several reasons that we could point to as reasons we should celebrate, but I’d like to focus on three. The first reason Jesus died was to die in our place, and that is good news.

Jesus Died to Take Our Place

As is often the case, in order to understand this good news, we must first understand the bad news. The bad news is that each of is guilty—each of us have broken the laws of God. No matter how seemingly large or small we may think our sin is, the fact is that each of us has sinned before. If you try to tell me that you haven’t sinned, then you’re guilty of lying! All sin carries with it a necessary penalty, and that penalty is eternal death—and that penalty must be paid.

Think of this like a court of law. If you are guilty of a crime, there is a penalty that must be paid. Suppose you had someone who loved you and wanted to pay your penalty for you. If the penalty for your crime is death, it would mean that they would have to die in your place. But just finding a person who is willing to die in your place isn’t enough, the judge would require that they be an innocent person—if they were also condemned to death, justice wouldn’t be served by letting them die in your place. And unfortunately, one human life is only as valuable as another, so no one could possibly die in the place of more than one person—no one person could go and die for all the people on death row and set them free. In order for one person to pay for the sins of many people, that person’s life would need to be especially valuable—more valuable than any human being’s life.

Enter Jesus. We read in Hebrews 4:15 these words,

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.

The writer of Hebrews talks quite a bit about the great high priest. The great high priest that he’s talking about is Jesus. In this passage he explains that Jesus was tempted in every way, just like we are, yet was without sin. Because Jesus was without sin, he was uniquely qualified to offer his life to pay the penalty for our sins. Because he was also God, Jesus’ sacrifice was valuable enough to pay the penalty for the sins of all people.

So, we can see that Good Friday is good because it gives us the chance to be set free. If it weren’t for Good Friday, we would live our lives with no hope, because we each stand guilty before God, and nothing we can do can overcome that guilt—we need someone else to help us. On Good Friday, we got the help we needed.

Jesus Died Because it was God’s Plan

So, Good Friday is good because we are sinners in need of a sinless sacrifice, and Jesus’ death served as that sacrifice. But, Good Friday is also good because God planned it. This seems somewhat counterintuitive. It seems absurd that God’s plan would be for His only son to die in the place of people who deserved death. It certainly doesn’t seem like the way I’d do it, but scripture teaches us that God’s plan before the world was even created was for Jesus to sacrifice his life.

In 2 Timothy 1:8-10, Paul says this,

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

This passage of scripture could be incredibly confusing, but let’s examine what Paul is saying here. First, look in verse 9, where it says, “by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” We see that our salvation comes not because of anything we can do, but because of the fact that God chose to save us despite our sin.

As we read on further in this passage, we see that he continues with, “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” Paul tells us here that before the beginning of time, before Genesis 1:1, before anything had even been created, God had already put into motion the events of Good Friday. The grace of Jesus had already been applied to us, it just hadn’t actually happened yet.

What becomes clear here is that the cross was not Plan B. God didn’t say, hey I’ll create the world and see what happens. I’ll see if they will live the way I told them to, but if they don’t, then plan B is to send Jesus down there to make things right. No, that’s not what He did at all. God created us knowing full well that we would rebel and he created us with the intention of sending Jesus to redeem us from our sin. So we see that God’s plan was to redeem man through Jesus Christ, and that this was his master plan before even time began. So, God’s plan was being fulfilled on the day that Jesus died, which makes that day good.

Jesus’ Death Brings Glory to God

There is also a third reason that we celebrate Good Friday. The reason is that Jesus’ death brings glory to God. Paul paints a beautiful picture of this in Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 11.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Can you sense the excitement in Paul’s voice as he writes this? As Paul recounted the implications of Jesus’ death, I suspect he remembered just how much it meant. He points out that Jesus died for us as enemies, and that now, because of His sacrifice (not anything we have done), we have been reconciled to Him! We have done nothing, and can do nothing to repair our relationship with God, but He took it upon himself to set things right, even though it meant that He had to sacrifice his son! Paul makes a good point. When we understand what God has done for us, we are forced to realize that He deserves all of the praise for setting us free.

I recently saw a skit that depicted Judgment Day for a young woman. In it, everything she had done was presented before God—every good thing she’d done, and every bad thing she’d done. Every time she rebelled against God, every time she had a thought that was impure, every time she tried to assert her power over His, every time she sinned and no one else knew about it. Video clips of all of these things were shown on the screen behind her. As she saw all of the sins she’d committed being laid out before her, she begin to slink down in her chair, because she knew that she was guilty, and that there was no question that she deserved to spend an eternity in Hell. After making his presentation, her lawyer went to go get the verdict. He returned a moment later and read the verdict. It stated that she was guilty on all counts, and thus her penalty was eternal death. She was then told that her penalty had already been paid, and she was to be set free. She knew she was a believer, but she didn’t fully understand her guilt until she stood in judgment before God. After being told she was free, she could do nothing but fall to her knees and cry—because she understood the tremendous gift she’d been given. She understood that she wasn’t just a pretty good person who made some mistakes, she understood that she was an enemy to God—a person who seemed to oppose him at every turn—but that he had still chosen to set her free, because Jesus had taken the punishment she deserved.

When we understand the gift of the cross, we fulfill God’s ultimate purpose for our lives—to praise Him and give Him the glory he deserves. Our response to the cross should be like the woman on Judgment Day. We should fall to our knees and cry out to praise God for what he’s done for us. Any event that causes us to have a response like this is definitely good. Unquestionably, this is one more reason why Good Friday is good.

Conclusions

But honestly, the real question isn’t why is Good Friday good, because those reasons are clearly spelled out in the Bible. We know that it’s good because we were sinners who needed a sinless sacrifice, it’s good because God planned it before the creation of the world, and it’s good because when we understand the cross, we have no choice but to fall to our knees and praise God. The real question is so what? We understand why Good Friday is good, but what should we do about it? How should that affect us?

Well, first of all, you need to examine yourself to see if you have received the grace which was made available to you on Good Friday. If you haven’t trusted Jesus to save you, then Good Friday really isn’t good for you at all. It’s just another day. So, if you understand why we call this Good Friday, the best response you can have to it is to bow before him and admit that you are a sinner who can’t save himself. Call out to Jesus to save you, acknowledging that he is the only one who can. Commit your life to Christ and commit to live your life for Him from this day forward. That is the best response you can have once you understand Good Friday.

If you’re already a believer, you should fall down in praise to God. You should respond in a way that brings him glory. There are several ways that we can glorify God.

First, we can praise Him through words. We can pray to God, expressing our thankfulness, or we can sing songs of praise that express our thankfulness. In either case, God won’t be pleased simply with empty words, but he will be pleased if these words flow from a thankful heart. As we stop to reflect by taking the Lord’s Supper, reflect on what God has done for you and turn your heart toward him in praise.

A second way that we can glorify God for the gift of Jesus is through our actions, through obedience to his commands. Our response to the truth of the gospel should be that we desire to become more like Christ. As believers, we should be constantly striving to eliminate sin from our lives, and seeking to put God above all else. After we’ve experienced this tremendous love from Christ, we should seek to serve him first. Our lives should be examples of Christ’s love for the world to see.

Finally, we can glorify God by telling others about the gift of Jesus Christ. This actually falls under the category of obedience as well. Before Jesus left the earth, he commanded us to tell others about him. This is often referred to as the Great Commission. This is not a suggestion to us, it is a command. If we understand what we’ve been forgiven, we should be filled with a joy that makes us want to tell others about it. It’s scary to share the gospel with others, but we can be assured that God will strengthen us, and also that God will be glorified through our obedience, even if we feel we haven’t done a good job. Our retelling of his love story for us is a compliment that shows we understand just how valuable this gift is.

During holy week, we celebrate both Good Friday and Easter. The reason we celebrate both of them is that we want to highlight different things. Tonight, we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. We look at what he went through to save us, those who were his enemies, and the fact that because of his death, we should glorify His name. On Easter, we celebrate not the crucified Christ, but the risen Christ; we focus not so much on his sacrifice, but his resurrection. So tonight, as we take communion, reflect on the sacrifice Christ has made on your behalf. As you reflect on what he’s done, I hope you will understand why we celebrate tonight. It’s not the fact that Jesus died that makes this Friday good, it’s the fact that he died for you.

©2007 April 6, 2007 Rick Goettsche www.unionchurch.com