Good Friday . . . What’s So “Good” About It?

The water was perfectly still as we passed the lake yesterday afternoon–reflecting the heavy layers of dark and foreboding clouds that filled the sky.  The scene struck me as being very appropriate on this day of remembrance–Good Friday–when Jesus was crucified:

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.  The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit.”
                                                                                                     Matthew 27:46-50

During the candlelit Good Friday service at my church, there was a wooden cross draped in black erected in the center of the Sanctuary.  Many Scriptures were read and hymns sung, as candles were snuffed out one by one.  It was as if we had entered into the events of that awful day . . . events that were the fulfillment of a prophecy written hundreds of years before:

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

 Good Friday . . . what’s so “good” about it?

Sunday is coming!