Good Friday

Spring is making an appearance in the beautiful weather we have been enjoying the last few days, and even in our yard! These daffodils had not popped open just yesterday when Rebekah and I walked around the yard taking inventory of flowers we expected might bloom soon. Kamele wanted to pick them right away.
 


Today is Good Friday. A day, that if I'm honest, I have to say that I have never entirely enjoyed thinking about. When I was a kid, I always had a hard time understanding why we call the day Jesus was crucified, Good Friday. I've also heard it called Holy Friday, which seems a little better fitting, but I have never attended a church that called it that. In German it is called Karfreitag, which translates to Mourning Friday. To me this title makes so much more sense, but then with a little help from Emma, I got to thinking...

I had a conversation with Emma this morning and she asked me why today was a holiday. We talked about Good Friday being the day that Jesus died on the cross, and while she didn't ask the question, her face told me she was thinking, well what's good about that? I wanted very much to give her more than the "Sunday School" answer that Jesus' death on the cross made a way for all of us to spend eternity in Heaven someday. Not that there is anything wrong with that explanation, it is the blessed truth that we can rejoice in, I just felt like there was more to say. The good that we are able to find in Good Friday is the reality that God loved us so much that he sent his only son to Earth to die for our sins, and that in complete selflessness Jesus allowed his life to pay the ransom for our debt. On Good Friday, Jesus bore a burden so great that if any of us had to stand under it, there would just be no possible way to overcome it. As He hung on the cross He was mocked that He had helped others, now He should help himself. If He was truly the son of God, He could save himself. And He could have! But in the ultimate act of love, He purchased our salvation with His very life, and we may live victoriously as a result.

So while at first assessment, the German holiday of Mourning Friday may seem more like a more appropriate name, I can only reflect on how thankful I am that the story doesn't end at the cross. Even in death He was triumphant.