Why is Good Friday good?
Shane Vander Hart explores why we celebrate the death of Christ as good by looking at the last seven statements He made while on the cross.
Good Friday is such an odd name commemorating the brutal execution of an innocent person at the behest of a blood-thirsty crowd and completed on a cruel, rugged Roman cross. Yet, the death of Jesus Christ IS good.
Why is it good?
I want to explore the last seven phrases Christ said on the cross to answer that question.
The first thing Jesus said while on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34, ESV).
Even while being crucified, in terrible agony, Jesus prayed not only for those who were present but also for us. Some may blame the Romans or the leading Jewish authorities for Jesus’ crucifixion, but our sin placed Him on that wooden cross.
My sin. Your sin. We are not blameless.
Ultimately, Jesus chose to die. He laid down His life of his own accord.
John Stott made an astute observation about the cross.
“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us,” he said.
We must encounter the bad news before we can embrace the good news.
The second phrase the Gospels record Jesus saying was a response to the thief who asked Christ to remember him when entering His Kingdom.
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise,” (Luke 23:43, ESV).
Can you imagine the incredible faith of that man? Many rejected or betrayed Jesus in this moment, yet as Jesus died on the cross, this thief recognized that Jesus was the Son of God.
Jesus spoke of salvation. Jesus was on the cross about to die to atone for that thief’s sins. He would enter paradise with Jesus. He would experience life that is eternal. A free gift as all who trust in Jesus for salvation will receive.
Earlier in his ministry, when confronted by a grieving Martha, Jesus spoke these words: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he , yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die,” (John 11:25-26, ESV).
Jesus asked Martha, and the question is relevant today, “Do you believe this?”
The Gospels record the third thing Jesus said, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home,” (John 19:26-27, ESV).
Jesus thought of the welfare of those while dying on the cross. He looked down at His mother in her distress. He appointed the “disciple whom he loved,” the Apostle John, to look after His mother. How utterly selfless. His first three statements addressed those killing him, to the thief that placed his faith in Him, and now His mother, without speaking of His needs.
The fourth thing Jesus said, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst,’” (John 19:28, ESV).
In this statement we see Jesus’ humanity. He suffered and experienced all the pain and hardship that anyone would suffer in His place. He didn’t take any shortcuts. Pain relief was not to be had. The Son of God, who created the water, was denied the water he desired to quench his thirst.
The fifth thing Jesus said was a cry to His Father.
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, ?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46, ESV).
Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1. At this moment, the communion that Jesus shared with God the Father throughout eternity did not exist. God the Father metaphorically turned His back on his Son. Why? Because God is holy. Scripture says that when Jesus was on the cross for our sake, “he made him who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV).
At that moment, our sin was placed upon Jesus who was without sin. Isaiah prophesied this moment when he wrote, “All like sheep have gone astray; we have turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all,” (Isaiah 53:6, ESV).
Philip Yancey made this observation.
“Love was compressed for all of human history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to – because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice,” he wrote.
Jesus knew what he faced before submitting to the crucifixion, and He went through it anyway. That is how incredible His love is for you and me.
The sixth thing Jesus said on the cross was a statement of completion.
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit,” (John 19:30, ESV).
Atonement was made at that moment in human history. In the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the justice, holiness, righteousness and wrath of God was satisfied.
Done, his work complete, no additional atonement was necessary. Before this the Jewish people had to make sacrifice after sacrifice anfter sacrifice, but in this moment, salvation was fully secured.
This is why the author of Hebrews could say that Jesus as our Great High Priest “after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV).
The final statement made by Jesus was a statement of triumph.
“Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last,” (Luke 23:46, ESV).
His final breath became a triumphant shout declaring restoration to His place with His Father after atoning for human sin.
He was pierced in the side to confirm death, then sealed in an tomb. Dead.
Thankfully the Gospel narrative does not end there, or this would not be good news, but Easter Sunday is coming.