Good Friday

The day God died. This day, marked by suffering, pain and death, is called Good. How can it be good? Jesus, the sum of all the world’s hope, the perfect and spotless one, was tortured, betrayed, and crucified. Naked and humiliated, He cried out and bled. The most shameful death consumed the most blameless life.

Yet what would seem like the darkest defeat bears with it beauty and an ache that is undeniable. The cross is the most powerful display of love that the world has ever seen. Nothing and no one can surpass it. It fascinates me that the empty tomb is the symbol of victory, but the cross is still the symbol of love. Why does this story of sacrifice, pain, and suffering resonate with us so deeply? Why does the cross, and the story of the passion of Christ, lead people to tears all these thousands of years later? Why is it that in suffering we see love most clearly?

I was recently talking with a dear friend of mine about suffering. How we rail against it, we resist it, we pray to be spared of it - Jesus included.

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39 (NLT)

Jesus longed to have another way. This was a face-to-the-ground prayer. It wasn’t a trivial request - He was desperate. Like us, He wanted to find a way to victory without suffering. But He trusted the Father, and this was the path the Father chose. God suffered.

What strikes me is not just what Jesus purchased on the cross - our forgiveness & reconciliation to God, the freedom from the powers of darkness, and life that is never overcome by death. That is more than enough to inspire me to lay my life down for Him, but there is even more. Jesus touched suffering. Just like everything else He touched, He changed it. Somehow, He turns this bitter water into wine.

The cross does not remove all pain from our life, but Jesus’ presence & participation in suffering ushers in purpose. So now, when we suffer, we enter into communion with the One who suffered all.

 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV)

This is why the darkest day in history was Good. The powers of evil thought they were winning, but as Paul says to the Corinthian church, if they’d only known God’s plan they never would have nailed the Lord of glory to the cross. Jesus took back ground. The enemy no longer owns pain, suffering, or death. God is restoring, redeeming, and repurposing even these. So whether you are experiencing suffering or victory, God is near. You are on Jesus’ territory. Love has won, and by faith in Christ’s work, it is Good.