Good Friday is Good

Today is a strange day.

We call it Good Friday, but it doesn’t feel very Good.
For those first disciples, gathered around the Cross, but keeping their distance too, it was an awful day, a disastrous day.
They didn’t think it was a Good Friday.

For many people today is a public holiday. And for even more people, Monday also will be a public holiday.

The Easter Holiday is a bigger holiday even than Christmas, and so it should be.

Of course, Easter is always at the weekend, so every year there is a three or four day holiday to look forward to.

Christmas and New Year cycle through the weekdays too. Thus the Christmas & New Year holiday time is often broken up into little bits, one or two days at a time. And it’s usually pretty cold at Christmas and New Year.

Whereas at Easter, it’s the beginning of Spring, so it's warm - right?
But it’s not been so warm these past few days!
At least, not in Scotland, where we had more snow on March 30th!

It’s a Public Holiday weekend, for the greatest Christian festival of the year. But instead of everyone piling down to the church on the Friday night, it is only the die-hards, the faithful few, and maybe a few newcomers, who come along to see what it’s all about.

After all, most folk don’t go to church the rest of the year, so why should they come at Easter, instead of going away on holiday.

That’s the key question. And the answer is found in the same reason that today is called Good Friday.

It is the day we remember that Jesus died.

And so we return to the strange fact that on Good Friday, we remember that someone died - Jesus died.

If Jesus had been an ordinary person, then Good Friday would never have been Good. It would just be the same as any other day of the week.

In fact, it is questionable whether we would even have a weekend, if Jesus had been an ordinary person. The beginning and end of the week are defined by Sunday. And Sunday became important because it was the day that Jesus rose from the grave.

Yes, Good Friday is Good, because Jesus was special. Jesus was God, but He set aside his divinity and was born like everyone else.

He died like everyone else too. But in between, Jesus was special. Not because He was God, but because he lived a perfect life. Jesus was Good, whereas everyone else, including you and me, is not Good.

Jesus was killed on the Cross, even though he had committed no crime, not only by those wicked people who killed him. He was killed on the Cross by you and me too, because we are not Good.

Jesus laid down his life, he offered it to those who sought to kill him, he gave his life, for you and for me.

That is why this Friday, is Good Friday, because Jesus is Good.

And because Jesus was Good, God raised him to life, because it could not be that an innocent man should die. Jesus had done nothing wrong - ever. Those who Follow Jesus join him in that Eternal Life.

All those folk who are rushing off on holiday, heedless of the church services happening during this week, and over the weekend, are missing the opportunity of a lifetime, for an even better holiday, than the holiday they are heading for.

God offers every person a permanent place in his home. Your Father in heaven has many mansions, and many rooms, and there is one there waiting just for you.

Jesus has the key to your room. He won the right to hand out the keys when he laid down his life on the Cross.

If you turn away from your earthly pursuits,
Away from extravagant holidays,
Away from the pursuit of wealth,
Away from the search for the next pleasure,
Away from the glorification of sex,
And Follow Jesus, then you will find that He has given you the Key.

That Key is the reason we call today Good Friday.
We know that - it is why most of us are here.

And if you are still searching for the Key,
That Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything,
Then the answer is Jesus. He has the Key.

When we think of the horrors of the Cross,
And the despair of the Grave,
Then remember that beyond the Grave, came the Resurrection.
Jesus invites you, me, everyone, to join Him in eternity.

Jesus is alive. He is with us by His Spirit. He has the Keys.

Today truly is Good Friday!