Why do we call it Good Friday when a man who had committed no sin, no wrong doing of any kind, was tortured beyond comprehension and then subjected to excruciating public death by crucifixion? What could possibly be good about that?
My simplest explanation is this. Good Friday is the day Good overcame the curse of evil.
God the Father took an event of horror, an absolute travesty of justice, that was carried out against an act of incomprehensible submission and obedience, and then transformed that horror into a Beauty and Glory beyond all measure that will never perish or fade away.
On this day, with His death, God broke the curse over us, which is Death itself.
Because one Man who owed no debt of sin at all submitted to God the Father even to death, justice was fulfilled in a single act of sacrifice and the payment for all sin was made. He did on behalf of each of us what we could never do for ourselves or anyone else. Yeshua, Son of God, gave His life so that we who believe on His name might have Life with Him forever. God redeemed the absolute worst possible outcome of our worst possible actions with His own actions. His own act of supreme, unalterable love made possible a Good for us that could never have been ours, apart from this act. And that is Good news!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3.16-17
C.S. Lewis said this so simply in Mere Christianity:
“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.”
My prayer for you this day is that you will know His name saves
and that your Good Friday will be marked with hope.
You are loved.
Lancia E. Smith is an author, photographer, teacher, and business owner. A grateful lover of the Triune God, Lancia is passionate about the disciple making. Reflecting that calling, she is the Founder and Executive Director of Cultivating Good | True | Beautiful, and of The Cultivating Project, a discipling initiative for Christians engaged in the arts, with a special emphasis on writers. Lancia is a board member and patron of the Anselm Society, and Regional Representative of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. She is President and CEO of a thriving environmental consulting and construction firm based in northern Colorado which she runs with her husband Peter. They are parents to seven children, and are grandparents to a beloved flock of grandchildren. Lancia loves strong coffee with cinnamon, writing, website design, David Austin roses, Marvel movies, road trips with Peter, and nearly every book she ever read by C.S. Lewis, J.R. R. Tolkien, and George MacDonald.
Lancia E. Smith
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