This is Good Friday. This is the day we celebrate the death of Jesus.
Think about that. This is the day we celebrate the death of Jesus. That's quite a thing for Christians to celebrate. In fact, we even call it “Good” Friday, as if it was a good thing that happened on this day.
What's good about it? The truth is this was a terrible thing. Think about it. This was Jesus Christ. This was the Son of God, come to earth. And what did we do? We killed him.
Now, some people might say “Wait a minute, here. I did not kill him. I was not even around then. It was not my fault that Jesus was killed.”
Well, okay. None of us was around two thousand years ago, obviously. If you want to think you'd have acted differently from the way people acted at that time, I cannot prove that you're wrong. But I doubt it.
The people who lived in Jesus' day were not terrible, evil people. They were just people. They were people who worked hard, who got married, who had kids, who ate and drank and did all the things people do. A lot of them went to the synagogue regularly and prayed and heard the scriptures read and worshiped God. They were not bad people. They were just people, living their lives as best they could.
Because they did all the things people do, most of them probably did not know a whole lot about this Jesus person. They may have heard stories. They may have heard about how he healed people, how he fed people. That story about Jesus raising someone from the dead probably got spread pretty widely, although a lot of people probably thought it was exaggerated. You know how people are.
Probably people heard about the big procession when Jesus came to town on Sunday, too. Some of them might even have gotten caught up in all the hoopla and taken part in it. But then, Jesus got arrested. And most people probably assumed he deserved to be. I mean, the average person would not have known all the political maneuvering that was going on, all the reasons the Pharisees wanted Jesus out of the way.
Most people did not keep up with politics much, just a lot of people today don't really keep up with it. Again, they were too busy just living their lives. So, when the Romans arrested Jesus, and the Pharisees approved, most people figured, well, those are the people who should know. If they say Jesus is a bad guy, then he probably is.
And then too, you know, it's pretty easy for us to want to go along with the crowd. It's also pretty easy for us to jump on a bandwagon. If most people say something is so, we figure well, it probably is. It takes a lot of self-confidence and a lot of courage to stand up to a crowd and say no, what you're doing is not right. Most of us don't do it. Most of the people in Jesus' day don't do it, either.
I don't say this to be critical of the people back then. I also don't say it to be critical of people today. I'm just saying that the chances are that, if you and I had been around two thousand years ago, we'd have reacted the same way the people back then did. We'd have gone along with the crowd. We'd have assumed the Romans and the Pharisees knew what they were talking about. And we'd have wanted Jesus crucified, too.
It's a terrible thing. And yet, in the Christian church, we call it good. And we celebrate it.
Christians did not think it was good at the time. No Christians were celebrating when Jesus was killed. The Christians, such as they were, had scattered. They were scared to death. They thought the Romans would come and arrest them, just like they'd arrested Jesus. They were afraid they'd be killed, too. So they took off. The only one we read about in Mark, after Jesus' arrest, is Peter, who kind of hung around but denied that he knew Jesus at all. The Pharisees, now—they might have celebrated. In fact, they probably did. They thought they'd gotten rid of a terrible nuisance. They thought they'd gotten rid of a threat. They may have been celebrating. But they would've been the only ones.
Jesus was certainly not celebrating. Crucifixion was a very painful thing. But you know, as painful as the crucifixion was, I suspect the mockery was even worse.
They put a royal robe on him and put a crown of thorns on his head. They sarcastically called him “the king of the Jews.” They beat him. They spit on him. While he was on the cross, they said, “You saved all those other people. Why don't you save yourself? Come on. Come down from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
And the reason that hurt so much was that the things they were saying were true. He actually was the king. He could have saved himself. He could have come down from the cross. And if he had, people would have come to believe.
But Jesus knew that doing it that way was not right. If he miraculously came down from the cross, if he proclaimed himself king, he would not have done what he came here to do. Instead, he'd have accepted an earthly kingdom. He would not have been able to help it. If the people had seen him miraculously come down from the cross, they would've insisted that Jesus become their king and that he lead a rebellion against the Romans.
It had to be so tempting to do that. But Jesus did not do it. Jesus went through the pain. He went through the beatings. He went through the mockery. And he died.
And we celebrate that. Because what we celebrate is not what the humans did. What we celebrate is what Jesus did.
Jesus stayed faithful to God the Father. He stayed faithful all the way. He stayed faithful through the pain. He stayed faithful through the beatings. He stayed faithful through the mockery. And he stayed faithful even to his death.
And that's what's “good” about Good Friday. What the humans did was terrible. But what Jesus did was good. In fact, “good” really does not cover it. We probably should call it “Great Friday” or “Awesome Friday” or “Incredible Friday.” What Jesus was able to do was so great, so awesome, so incredible, that it's worth celebrating.
And of course, because of what Jesus did, people still came to believe. The centurion watched Jesus die and said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” There was a group of women standing there who came to believe, too. And of course, later on, when Jesus was resurrected, many others came to believe as well. And we still do.
And the thing is, they and we come to believe even more than if Jesus had miraculously come down from the cross. If he'd come down from the cross, people would've believed in Jesus as the king, but they'd have believed in him as a warrior king, as a king of power. They'd have believed in a king who had come to establish an earthly kingdom right then. Instead, we're able to believe in something better. We're able to believe in a servant king, in a loving king. We're able to believe in a Savior King. And that's something we can and should celebrate.
So, when we hear the phrase “Good Friday”, let's remember what's good about it. The “good” in Good Friday has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Jesus. Jesus is so good that he could stay faithful through pain and beatings so he could save us. Jesus is so good that he could stay faithful through mockery and even death so that we could come to believe and understand that he truly was the Son of God. Jesus is so good that not only did he stay faithful, he forgives us and offers us the chance for eternal life.
That's what's good. That's what's awesome. That's what's incredible. That even though we killed the Son of God, we are still offered forgiveness and eternal life. That's why this day truly is a Good Friday.
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