The Friday before Easter is what we call Good Friday. Twice today someone has asked me why it is called "Good" when it is the day we remember something as brutal as Christ's crucifixion. It just seems so, well, bad. I think all of my kids asked me the question at some point when they were younger, and I remember asking my mom the same thing when I was a kid. The answer she gave is about as good as it gets. It's what I told my kids and all who have asked me since:
That never left me. In fact, I think her simple explanation of the GOOD in Good Friday, helped me understand the Gospel as a child as much as just about anything else I can think of.
The historical/etymological answer isn't as easy. Here is a great article about that if you're interested. But my mom's answer reveals, at least to me, yet another evidence of God's providence--even in the "accidental" way we came to call it "Good Friday."
Blessings to all this Easter season! If you have not received Christ, you can be seen as good by God, too. Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 10:9-10.
Rembrandt's Jesus on the Cross, painted 1631.
Good Friday is the day Jesus--the only person who was truly good--died on the cross in our place, cleansing all our sin with his blood. Now when God looks at believers, he doesn't see sinners...he sees us as good!
That never left me. In fact, I think her simple explanation of the GOOD in Good Friday, helped me understand the Gospel as a child as much as just about anything else I can think of.
The historical/etymological answer isn't as easy. Here is a great article about that if you're interested. But my mom's answer reveals, at least to me, yet another evidence of God's providence--even in the "accidental" way we came to call it "Good Friday."
Blessings to all this Easter season! If you have not received Christ, you can be seen as good by God, too. Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 10:9-10.
Rembrandt's Jesus on the Cross, painted 1631.
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