Good Friday – 10 April 2009

The dictionary defines a paradox as a statement that seems to contradict itself or to conflict with common sense, but which contains a truth. It seems paradoxical to call the day we commemorate the execution of Jesus, an innocent man, “Good Friday.” Furthermore, Jesus was not just a man; he was very God of very God. It goes against common sense to call the day that God incarnate was crucified by all too human hands “good.” There is nothing in the Passion of the Jesus that seems good, his betrayal by a friend, his disciples abandoning him, the unjustly rigged trial, the inhuman verbal and physical abuse, the cruelty, and impotency of the Roman government, and his gruesome death. Common sense seems to demand that we call this day, “Bad Friday” or “Unjust Friday” or “The Day when Evil Triumphed Friday.” Yet, against the demands of human common sense, the Church has stubbornly called this day “Good Friday.”

The Church has called Jesus’ death “Good Friday” because Scripture speaks of Jesus’ death, not as something evil, but as something good; not as something unjust, but something divinely just; not as the triumph of evil over good, but the triumph of God over evil. Consider the words of Isaiah, the Prophet, “He was bruised for our iniquities and crushed for our transgressions.” Or the words of Jesus, himself, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). Or the words of St. Paul, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21) and “[God] took away [the written code that stood against us], nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15). Or finally the words of St. Peter, “[Jesus], himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by his wounds you have been healed.” (I Peter 2:24) We call the day Jesus died, “Good Friday,” because on this day the debt of our sins was paid in full. We call this day Good Friday because on this day his blood cleansed our common sense, which was mired in egotistical idolatry. We call this day Good Friday, because all the tragedy of our lives was transformed by Jesus death from shame to glory. We call this day Good Friday because through the cross God the Father triumphed over evil. We call this day Good Friday because through the cross God has reconciled all things to himself. Finally, we call this day Good Friday because, when speaking of his impending death, Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” and we dare not call anything bad that brings Jesus Christ glory, honor, and praise.

Nevertheless, despite the goodness of this day, we approach it with sadness, mourning, and fasting. We approach this day with sadness because despite the goodness and glory of the cross, death – especially torturous deaths like Jesus’ – is not pleasant thing to witness. Good things are not always pleasurable. We approach this day with mourning Jesus bore the burden of the cross for our sins. Jesus suffered, was tortured, was flogged, was mocked, was crucified, and died because we have failed to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. We mourn on Good Friday because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death, a death Jesus Christ chose experience on our behalf. Finally, we fast this day because just as Jesus bore his cross so he has commanded us to bear our cross, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:38, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” There is no way to mitigate and ease Jesus’ command. We must take up our cross and we must follow him. We all know how difficult this command is, we all know how hard it is to live obediently and loyally to Jesus. As Dietrich Bonhoffer said many years ago, grace was costly – it cost God the Father the life of His son, therefore discipleship is costly – it costs us our life for we too must take up our cross. But here is the good news, the news that makes Good Friday good. The cross we must take up, the cross we must bear as we follow Jesus in this life is not weighed down with our sins, our trespasses, our failures, our disobedience, our lovelessness, and our guilt! For that is what Jesus bore on his cross, his good and lovely cross.

Good Friday is not a paradox, that Jesus Christ – God incarnate – should willingly die for our sins and guilt is the best news we care hear. Therefore, since Jesus Christ bore our sins and guilt upon his cross, let us take up our crosses and joyfully follow our Saviour wherever he may lead.