Today we celebrate Good Friday. In a free moment today between taking Dutch for his 15-month check-up, getting a tetanus shot (how did 12 years go by so fast?), ironing Jeff’s shirts, putting Dutch down for a nap, finishing the laundry, and packing our bags for a weekend in Corvallis, I sat down and asked God to help me contemplate Good Friday. With a day this busy, I didn’t want to blink and realize the day was gone without remembering what the day is all about. But why good Friday. Germans call this day “mourning Friday” (in German of course), and some think perhaps Good Friday came from God’s Friday, the same way that goodbye came from God be with you. But whatever the reason, Good Friday has stuck. Of all Fridays each year, this one is designated as good.
But how can it be good? What strikes me about its name is how paradoxical and perfect it is at the same time. We call it good because we know about Sunday. We know that the day after tomorrow is Sunday, and so we know that Jesus rises, we know that our sins are forgiven, we know that sin, death, and the grave have been conquered and we will live eternally with God in glory if we put our faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Hallelujah!
But consider just for another moment what this means for us today, what this means for our perspective. I can guarantee that Peter, John, Mary, those who watched Jesus, didn’t think it was good. Jesus, disfigured from beatings, strips of open, oozing, flesh hanging from his tattered back, stumbling with exhaustion, pain, and dehydration. Jesus, their hope, their only hope crucified like a crook right in front of their eyes. Jesus was their only hope. They’d given their lives to follow Him. They’d left their livelihood, believed His words, trusted in His promises. Jesus, God made man, perfect, holy, righteous, subjected to a torment fit for the worst of sinners. They did not think it was good.
Good Friday is good because of we know the end of the story. Why could Jesus subject Himself to the torture of the cross, bearing the full wrath of God poured out on Him for the sake of a world who had rejected Him? Because He knew the end of the story. It didn’t make the pain any less real. The anguish was the same, but He endured because of the joy set before Him (Heb 12). Fifteen months ago, when my water broke, I was excited to go to the hospital. I was knowingly headed toward the worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life, but I entered into it gladly because I knew the end of the story (or at least hoped–trusting I’d have a healthy baby). I knew that the pain was worth it because of baby Dutch. The pain accomplished a far more glorious end. It didn’t make it any less painful, and I’m still not quite ready to have another baby (!), but as any mom can attest–it’s well worth it.
The example is weak because in giving birth the end result is so clear, so vivid. But in life our pain is so much more confusing, and emotional pain is world’s worse than physical pain. I am still haunted by the death of my friend Sara Stokes, who was taken to be with the Lord at just 25 years of age last June. Just yesterday I ran into her dad, and after hugging him, my whole being ached in tasting just a drop of the unfathomable grief he must daily encounter. Ron Hordichok’s family, with open and raw wounds still from his sudden death … I can’t even fathom the pain and loss.
So the question is the same. How can it be good? In The Hawk and the Dove right now, Father Peregrine is going through unimaginable suffering. At times I want to quit reading because it just seems too much. Too horrid. Too unthinkable. How can it be good? It only scratches the surface of what Christ suffered, and yet somehow we call it good. Because of what it accomplished. Because we know the end of the story.
What is the end of our story? We don’t know the short-term end. We don’t know if our sick parent will live, if our wayward child will return, if our sorrow will be relieved. But we do know that Christ has said, “Behold, I make all things new.” We know the end of our story. We know that He wipes every tear from our eye, creates a new heaven and and a new earth, and that we will live for eternity with Him. The end of our story was accomplished on that day so long ago that we can accurately call Good Friday.
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