Why Good Friday is Good

Today is Good Friday. It is April 10, 2020. If you are reading this today, you are living in one of the more uncertain times of human history as we face the Coronavirus. I thought it timely to remind us in this present crisis of why Good Friday is Good. It's a day where Christians remember the death of Jesus. So it can seem sort of weird, that we'd remember such a thing as a 'good' thing. We don't typically think of death as good.

Our Debt

In Canada, our nation is under a form of what we call 'lockdown' to try and battle Covid-19. Any services or businesses that are not considered to be essential are ordered to be shutdown. Roads are still open. Grocery stores still sell food, but you can't watch hockey, because there are no hockey games to watch. So much of Canada is living, using hydro and eating - depending on "the government" to support them for the time being. Within all this, we are amassing an enormous amount of debt.

Whether we know it or not, each one of us has a spiritual debt. There is a God. Some of you might want to fight me on that, and it's ok. But you haven't died yet have you? For those of you who have been dead for a while, you already know that there's more than this life, but you likely didn't make it to the judgment yet.

We have wronged God. The Bible word for doing wrong against God is called sin. There is a God and we owe Him what can called a sin-debt. And it's huge. It's beyond what you can pay. If you've lived life not even believing in Him, imagine how large it must be if you didn't even know what He wants.

We can handle these things a little easier when they are part of fiction. If you've watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, you can likely hear the words of Davey Jones as he tells Sparrow, "You have a debt to pay..." It becomes a little more aggravating when we talk about it in the God conversation because our conscience knows there is a reality to it that can't be easily swept aside.

And out of that debt, you, I - every one of us will die. (even if you think this is a fairy tale.)

Our Separation

Sin is more of a relational thing than it is a moral thing. (It does tend to have a moral component. So don't get all bent out of shape if you missed my use of the word, "more") You've been wronged in some way, by someone. Haven't you? It may be something big. It may simply something they said that bothers you. Whether your grievance is large or small, it creates a space between them and you. It can be a certain topic that you can no longer talk about with them. It could be that you don't want to see them as much as you used to, or perhaps you want them out of your life. Whether large or small, there is a separation that exists between them and you.

Out of our sin, a similar separation exists between us and God. The danger being, it can become permanent; a forever kind of permanent. Some of you don't mind the separation. You don't much like Him anyway. I like Him, so I don't understand it. But I get it. Others of us don't KNOW that we are separated from Him, and that is quite common too isn't it? Many of us harbour sour feelings towards others who simply don't know. They don't know you're upset with them. They don't know why you don't want to see them or why you don't respond to their calls or texts like you used to.

When we've been wronged, we generally have an idea of what we want from them now. Even if we want them dead. (Hopefully not). We want them to apologize. We want them to pay us back. We want them to acknowledge how they've wronged us. Whatever we want from, we expect it to be rectified on our terms.

Fortunately for us, God isn't an immature bitter grudge holder. He has shown us the way back. He has revealed, "His terms".


Our Way Back

You might want to try to be right with God however you think is best. Good luck with that. If that's your approach, I beg you. If I know you....give me a list of people who have wronged you. And I'll ask them to try to get right with you in some way OTHER than what you want. It's a dumb idea isn't it?

The nature of our sin-debt and separation is such that you and I are unable to rectify the situation. Jesus paid it/dealt with it on our behalf. Peter described it this way,

"He (Jesus) bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" 1 Peter 2:24

I guess if you don't mind your separation, this is simply "religious information". I just ask that you seriously ponder what it might be like were the separation to be locked in indefinitely.

If you never knew, but are thinking you want in, THAT is the Good News of Good Friday. There is a way in; and it starts today. Accept the payment made on your behalf - the payment made by Jesus on the cross. Then choose to follow Him. If you don't know where to start, try picking up a Bible and reading the book of John to begin with. It's easily accessible online if you can't find or don't have one.

If you are already in Christ, then be encouraged. Today is a truly good day. We grieve, we mourn and we remember, but thank God there is a way! Our debt has been paid in full. We have right standing with the King of Kings.