A Good & Horrible Friday

A Good & Horrible Friday

It seems to be sometimes a great injustice to Christ that today is christened "Good Friday". This is the day that we celebrate the most unjust, most sinful act ever committed. The decision to crucify Christ was the most unjust civil ruling ever laid down, and the magistrates knew it. The crowd knew that they really had no justification for crucifying the Savior.

The cross is a hideous sight. They beat their victim (in this case, Jesus) beyond recognition and threw Him naked up on a cross to suffocate to death. The scene was so bad that a mention of the cross was considered vulgar in Roman vocabulary. Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion (Paul would have been beheaded). This scene was a horrible sight...and yet we call it "wondrous" in our hymnody.

As bad as this scene was, as vulgar and unjust as the Cross was, we celebrate it. Why? Because even though this was a horrible sin and what Christ went through was terrible--Christ died for a purpose, and that purpose was accomplished on Good Friday. Christ redeemed sinners!!! Christ redeemed me! Even though Good Friday marks a truly terrible event, it marks a terrible event which had a wondrous result.

That is why we celebrate Good Friday. It is probably the singly most important holiday in the Church Calendar. It reminds us that Christ made atonement for sinners like you and me, but it also reminds us of the terrible price He paid to do so.

"When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride..." (Isaac Watts)

Luke