What's so "good" about Good Friday?

This morning I have been reading Colossians 1. This is a letter from Paul and Timothy to Christians in Colosse, but today I’ve been reading it as a letter from Paul and Timothy to me. I have also been reading it as a letter from me to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I would just like to encourage you to do the same. For if you are in Christ, this letter is to you… and it is also a great example of how we should be encouraging and praying for our fellow brothers and sisters.

However, I've been reading this passage today because of verses 19-22, which says: "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault."

Each year when Good Friday rolls around, I find myself asking why they call it “good” when as Christians, it is a very sad day to think that Jesus Christ suffered and died a cruel death on the cross. Humanly speaking, it’s anything but “good”. But of course we know that “good” in this sense does not mean happy or cheerful, but it illustrates good in the sense of “holy”; it is observed as a holy day.

Yet in my sadness and reverence, I can’t help but look at Good Friday as a “good” day too, especially after reading Colossians 1:19-22! It is good because, while the fate of the entire world hung in the balance, the price for mankind’s redemption and reconciliation to a loving Father was being paid for by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For this very reason we can have hope and a future… for this very reason we are considered holy and blameless as we stand before Him without a single fault… this is a very “good” thing!

Paul was very clear in this passage in that He was speaking to those who believed in Christ as their Savior. We can only have this hope if we confess our sins, and believe that Jesus is Lord. If you want to know more, please click here.

Have a GOOD Friday, and a blessed Easter!