For many around the globe, myself included, today is an important day. Perhaps the most important day. It’s Good Friday, the day we reflect on Jesus’s betrayal, arrest, illegal trials, and death sentence. We consider how Jesus was mocked, tortured, and nailed to a cross. The Christian is founded on the Cross of Christ, so this day bears unmatched weight and sobriety. It’s sorrowful, holy, and dark.
So why, then, do we call it Good Friday?
We call it good because good is what God worked through that device meant for evil. Jesus’s physical death served a spiritual purpose. He died a death He didn’t deserve so that we can live a life that we don’t deserve. He died my death so I can live His life.
In Mark 1:14-15, when Jesus begins His ministry, He makes a major announcement. He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” One sentence. Big news.
Gospel is one of those words that can lose its awe and depth and meaning when we toss it around without really meditating on it. And believers do talk about the gospel a lot. That’s good. I mean, that’s kind of the point. But how often do we really sit and think about all that’s contained in that little word? Good news. This is a substantial announcement. Something has permanently changed. Jesus speaks in the same breath of gospel and the Kingdom of God. This is a new establishment. A new covenant. A shift. If you’re interested in exploring all the elements and privileges and benefits of the gospel, there’s a book I highly recommend. Collected from its pages, here are some of the changes that Jesus brings about:
A Kingdom of love instead of subjugation. This love is based on relational trust and dependence on our Creator King, on moral renewal and freedom-driven, gratifying obedience.
Grace instead of law. The Law has been fulfilled, Jesus has paid the debt of sin, and we are no longer bound to keep its requirements. Now we live in grace, an undeserved gift, and we extend grace to others.
Humility instead of pride. Jesus set aside the weight of His glory and was born to an unremarkable name in a podunk town in an nonspiritual region, and lived a nomadic life of radical servitude. He submitted to an illegal trial for crimes he didn’t commit, and he died. He chose to do it. He chose to do it all in utter humility, and that’s His design for His Kingdom.
An inclusive invitation to humanity instead of just the Jews. The playing field is leveled and there is no other identifying separation in Christ Jesus. Covered by the blood of the cross, everyone is welcome. Position in God’s adopted family is dependent only on faith in Jesus, not on bloodline or status or anything else.
Received voluntarily instead of imposed by force. Simply, Jesus wants us to want Him. We are not forced into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus did it instead of requiring us to do it. He paid each individual debt for sin, he died, he defeated death, putting His enemies to eternal shame. All of this by His own power and authority.
Everlasting joy instead of condemnation for those who believe. We are not bound to guilt. We are not led by shame. Death holds no power over us. We have joy in the hope of eternity with Christ.
Enjoyment of God instead of fear of His wrath. The cross absorbed God’s wrath. We’re free from His wrath and can now boldly approach the throne of grace and enjoy all of Who He Is through Jesus, our Mediator.
Listen, this is by no means a complete list of what the gospel accomplishes and offers us. But it is enough to show us that our God is amazing, His Word is good, His Son is due every ounce of worship in our bones, and His mission is worth all we have and all we are. I hope you’re excited. The gospel is exciting. Jesus changes everything.
Can I confess something? Sometimes the word “repent” leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It reads ~scary~, with connotations of fire and brimstone and the like. But the TRUTH is, repent is a beautiful, lovely word. Repentance is a luxury. Repentance is a second chance. And it’s so much more than simply acknowledgement. It’s more than just feeling sorry for your sin. It requires moving from doing a thing to not doing a thing. Changing locations. The Kingdom of God is in a different location than sin, self-reliance, and self-indulgence. We cannot keep a foot in one and a foot in the other. Repentance is an opportunity to turn to God’s Kingdom and His best for us.
This spiritual reality is brought about by the work of the cross. Though today we mourn Jesus’s death, we anticipate the resurrection. We know the results. We feel the transformation. We see the Kingdom.
And that, my friend, is why we call it Good Friday.