Easter is here! For many, it’s a season stuffed with joy — family gatherings, festive meals, egg hunts, and a general air of celebration. While these are all good and fun, it’s also necessary, even needed, to pause and reflect on the true weight of this season.
Specifically, on Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ willingly embraced unimaginable suffering for our sake.
Now, let’s be honest — calling the day of Jesus’ crucifixion and death “Good” can sound strange, even contradictory. What’s good about an innocent man dying a brutal death on a cross?
The answer lies in the aim and final result of that sacrifice. Good Friday is “good” since it marks the very foundation of our Christian faith — that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we’ve been offered salvation, freedom, and everlasting life.
But let’s not gloss over the gravity of that sacrifice. It was our sin that placed Jesus on that cross. We were those who turned our backs on God, trapped ourselves in cycles of sin, and located no way out. We couldn’t save ourselves.
Isaiah 53:5-6 prophesies this, “But He was pierced for our transgression, He was crushed for our iniquities … We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each one among us turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Yet, in His immeasurable love and mercy, God made a way. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to rescue us — to interrupt the chains of sin and reconcile us back to Himself (John 3:16; Colossians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
Because God is just, sin cannot go unpunished. And so, Jesus — God within the flesh — became the right sacrifice, sin itself, taking up the punishment meant for us so we could possibly be declared righteous and blameless before a holy God (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25-26).
We often forget that while Jesus is fully divine, He was also fully human (Philippians 2:6; John 1:14). This implies that He felt every lash, every thorn, every nail.
From the garden of Gethsemane, we see His humanity on full display. In Matthew’s (26:36-46) gospel, Jesus trembled, sweated blood, and pleaded with the Father that the “cup” be taken from Him — not once, but thrice. That cup represented the total weight of God’s judgment against sin (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Job 21). And Jesus didn’t pull away simply due to physical agony that awaited Him, but due to spiritual torment — the burden of carrying all of humanity’s sin, and the heartbreak of experiencing separation from the Father for the primary and only time.
This was presupposed to be our destiny. He didn’t must undergo with it. He had the liberty to walk away. But He selected obedience. He selected the cross – the humiliation, mocking, torture and abandonment. He selected us. Because it was the one way we could possibly be saved.What looked just like the wrongful execution of an innocent man, driven by the jealousy and corruption of non secular leaders, turned out to be the best demonstration of affection the world has ever known. What gave the impression to be a moment of defeat was actually the start of ultimate victory.
That’s the true power of Good Friday.
The cross is a reminder of God’s boundless, unconditional, and sacrificial love for us. It shows us that no depth of human evil can overcome the goodness of God. It proves that God is at all times at work — turning pain into purpose, tragedy into triumph — and that His will can’t be thwarted.
So, as we come together to mark Easter, let’s not rush past Good Friday. Let it humble us. Let it remind us of the love that held Jesus on that cross — not the nails, but His love for you and me.
And let it move you to reply this: how will you reply to the love that held Him on the cross?
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