(Post by: Scott Hobbs)
“Why do we call it Good Friday?” he asked.
Like the past several years, we celebrated the Passover with a Seder meal. Not a perfect re-enactment; but a time of teaching with all the representative components. The bitter herbs, the bone representing the sacrificed lamb, the matzah (unleaven bread) to share in communion. As always it was a somber celebration of remembrance and learning.
After the service, one of our older saints came straight over to me and posed a question I’m not sure I had ever been officially asked.
Why do we call it Good Friday?
This is something that has crossed my mind as well. He said a neighbor he knows, that has some major struggles going on in her life, asked him that the day before. It made him stop and ponder; and now he was asking me.
I could probably get on board with a little modification to this seemingly strange description of the day our Jesus was arrested, mocked, beaten, given a crown of thorns, scourged, made to carry his own cross up that hill, was nailed to it, and hung upon it for 6 hours until His final breath.
Perhaps Horrific Friday or Sad beyond Measure Friday. What about Dreadful Friday? Or maybe Violent or Excruciating Friday. How about Cruel Friday or Unfathomable Friday?
No. None of those seem like better choices. Only one more comes to mind and I think it could actually work. Probably wouldn’t fit well on a Hallmark card or in most of our social circles. Actually, a lot of churches would probably frown on a service with this one.
Bleed, Suffer, Die Friday.
See that one kind of fits. This cross thing of Friday before Easter is just that. It’s what was required to pay for sin because sin is ugly. Nothing pretty about sin and yet we all want to allow it into our lives through our compromises and because of our pride. We want to dress it up all sorts of ways and call it good.
But sin always has a cost.
Sometimes the cost is big and sometimes it’s small. Kind of like a speeding ticket. 61 in a 55mph zone; not so bad. 72 in a 45mph construction zone; ugly. But anything over 55 is going to cost you something.
The cost of sin in God’s book is death. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
Nothing else can pay the price. It’s an ugly, bleeding, suffering thing. Somebody had to die and the sin they were to take on for all of us, you and me, was too big for any man already bogged down with his own sin.
Then Jesus comes, lives a sinless life, offers to bleed, suffer, and die for all of humanity’s sin. Pays the cost for you and me in a most ugly way.
The more I think about it, maybe Good Friday is perfectly appropriate for this day. Because without this Jesus thing, the bleed, suffer, die thing, there would be no Resurrection Sunday. No payment for sin that could restore our relationship with God.
Nothing could be better than that. The Good News, the Gospel, Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is definitely good for anyone that accepts it.
Thank you Jesus. You made it Good Friday for us.
Friday is good because Sunday is coming!
The Few 
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