Is One Day Better Than Another?
Americans tend to like Friday. It’s the day that classes dismiss for the weekend. It’s the last day of the standard workweek. Black Friday is the day that many Americans go shopping for blockbuster Christmas deals. We’ve even invented a special acronym to thank God for it (TGIF). What’s not to like about Friday? Yet above every ordinary Friday, there’s a specific Friday each year that gets the special honor of being called Good Friday. What is it that makes this particular Friday so good?
The Basic Idea of Good Friday
Generally speaking, Good Friday is observed by most Christian churches in the United States with special services. And at these special services, the mood is often solemn. This is because church leaders often lead those in attendance to reflect on the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Since these services are more somber and serious than standard Sunday worship services of a church, the weightiness of the experience can often create the sense that Good Friday isn’t really all that good of a day at all.
So it’s worth asking: How could the day of Jesus’s death be a good day? Why does the church give so much attention to a day that seems rather dark and morbid? What is it that makes the death of Jesus worth commemorating?
The Goodness of Good Friday
Simply stated, this day is worth our attention because of what Jesus’s death accomplished. No one is claiming that death is inherently good or desirable. Churches aren’t trying to claim that it’s good to fixate on the gruesome details of Jesus’s death on a cross. But when Jesus died on the cross, he died for a purpose. He fulfilled a special mission from God.
And this was Jesus’s mission: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). When Jesus died, he was dying in service to other people. He was laying down his life to save the lives of others who hostages of corruption and death. And as a result, anyone who depends on Jesus to be rescued from these things will find freedom and life.
Not Good without Jesus?
There are two main ways people will respond to this simple little article. One group of people will be made up of those who are aware of their personal failings. They’ll recognize that God has every right to punish them for their wrongdoings. And for this sort of person, the goodness of Jesus’s work will make sense. Good Friday will be a precious day of humble gratitude.
But another group of people will have great difficulty seeing the goodness of the day. They will continue to insist that they are good already – without Jesus. Good Friday will not seem good, because it will remind them of something they don’t want to be reminded of – namely, that they are at odds with God in need of supernatural intervention to be saved.
But this is just one more thing that makes Good Friday so good. It continues to call us all to the foot of the cross, to lay aside our arrogant self-reliance, and to admit our need for God. This is just one more reason for Americans to like Friday. I hope this year, you’ll check out a Good Friday church service near you, too.
