It is not a good Friday, at least not from where we stand. God's Son is crucified: tortured, beaten, flogged, and then nailed to a cross. The cross remains today the most barbaric, painful, and prolonged means of execution ever devised by humanity. And this is what Jesus was willing to endure. This is what God would endure: not for Himself, but for us - his creation.
It is strange that we would call it "Good Friday." Now without getting into all the theoretical reasons - word origins and such - it expresses a theological truth: that we are not in charge, and we never were. We believe ourselves to be, but the current pandemic ought to put that notion to rest once and for all time. Throughout history, we have all succumbed to thinking thusly - that we were, in fact, in control of our destinies and of course sets the self up as our chief and number one idol.
But it is "Good" from the perspective of God. It is Good from the human perspective, but ONLY as the human perspective thinks, reflects, and ponders on the divine. It is Good because in it begins the culmination of God's Divine Plan, laid out for us in the pages of Scripture and being fulfilled in these 3 days, beginning with THIS day. It is Good precisely because it vanquishes the real enemies of humanity: sin, death, and the devil, and destroys their power over us for an eternity.
Now we may want to know why in heaven or on earth God would choose to act in such a fashion? It is for the very reasons listed above. When every "religion" on the face of the earth holds to a position that humans can be "good enough" to save themselves ultimately, Christianity stands alone as the one religion in which we are powerless to save ourselves. Therefore God does the act of saving on our behalf, which is fitting considering we are but God's handiwork and creation. The problem with any religion that somehow thinks people can ultimately be good enough is in how that particular religion would define "good," which is often in not a very good way. Sadly, this would sometimes include Christians as well, who forget that God alone saves us through this "Good" act on His part, and therefore they take on the notion that we must be Good enough to save ourselves. And because we are all guilty of acting as our own "god," in thinking this way, God chose to act on our behalf, to prove that we were wrong.
We may never be able to answer that question in this lifetime, as to why God would choose to act in this way (at least outside of what I ponder above). But isn't it enough to know that God "so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life?" We may never be able to answer many of the questions we have about God, but may it be sufficient for us to know that despite our lack of understanding, God's love for us was extreme enough to bring about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and his triumph over death in rising again.
