Good Friday
Where is the Good in Good Friday?
Some scholars believe that the name Good Friday originated in the 4th century as a derivation of what may have been originally called God’s Friday. It is often a bit perplexing for so many of us. What’s so GOOD about this, the most somber and darkest of days in our Christian tradition?
I can’t imagine that ANYONE involved or present during those days leading up to and on the day of Jesus’ death would have called it a GOOD day. Even those who had a direct/indirect hand in Jesus’ crucifixion most likely wouldn’t have called it a good day’s work. The high priest and some of Pharisees got rid of a popular and charismatic preacher and handed him over to the Romans. What was the ultimate price for that with the Jewish people and so many others who loved, listened and embraced Jesus’ message of unconditional love for ALL? Pontius Pilate, with apparent reluctance, having found no legitimate reason for the death sentence, agreed to this execution. I can’t imagine it was a GOOD day for Pilate.
If Mary Magdalene and the other disciples saw it as GOOD it would only have been after encountering the Risen Christ. Would Jesus himself have called this day GOOD? I think about the impending doom he felt at the Last Supper and the terrible agony and betrayal he went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. Definitely NOT GOOD.
I wonder if we have become so focused on the very real agony and pain of Jesus that we have become blinded to the good? Has our ability to see clearly become distorted by our (legitimate) attention on the immediate anguish we pray with, particularly during the Triduum; blocking us from understanding the GOOD of this Friday? How might we move into a more profound understanding of this very solemn day, a day that is, in actuality, filled with grace, hope and faith?
I think it comes down to our capacity to enter into the suffering of Jesus, believing whole heartedly that it is the invitation of God’s love. If we’re just going to focus on the brutality of Jesus’ death then there really is no reason to claim today as GOOD. I am not inferring that we should enter into a fantasy world of unicorns, cupcakes, butterflies and rainbows in order to understand the GOOD. The GOOD of Good Friday is not a fairy wand that waves away the very real presence of sin, pain, sorrow, grief and death that is part of our lives as people of faith. Yet it also does not mean that those elements are the final answer or reality of life.
Our readings and prayers today offer an ominous and terrible unfolding of events that reflect how people betray, lash out at and deeply hurt one another. Yet the steady and constant rudder throughout the events of the Passion and crucifixion is Jesus and His LOVE. He knew what was about to happen. He was scared and in indescribable pain. But as he carried, and then was nailed to that cross, I don’t think he actually saw it as the end of his life but saw beyond, recognizing that death was not the end. Jesus knew that the love of his Father was extravagantly greater and extraordinarily more profoundly enduring than what he had to suffer through death. I believe that now, Jesus, along with so many of our loved ones who have suffered painful death, particularly this past year, are with God saying “Yes, that was a GOOD day.”
What happened on that first Good Friday and what we pray with every year was real. It was horrible and filled with anguish. It happened, and it continues to happen for each of us when we are faced with tragedy and loss. The cross Jesus carried through the streets of Jerusalem and upon which he died is a cross that many of us bear in different forms throughout our lives. It is a cross that is carried by our LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers, the poor, the marginalized, the wrongly incarcerated, the abused, victims of racism, those who have died from COVID-19, migrants and the forgotten. 2000+ years later and humanity still experiences sin, sadness, tears, heartbreak, pain, brokenness and death.
But with all the pain that we carry, are we able to recognize that we carry LOVE as well? Might this be the GOOD in Good Friday? The love that Jesus carried in his cross, the love that he carried to his death, the love that resurrected him from the dead, shows us that God’s love is more powerful than death. Jesus’ death for us is far far more than just his solidarity with our own pain. Without question, the love of the crucified Christ moves us beyond our burdens and suffering, and we are invited to remember and seek the hope and joy in that. We carry that LOVE each and every day along with the crosses we bear.
Are we able to recognize and place our trust and hope in the crucifixion that occurred on Good Friday, as the ultimate and enduring expression of love? Do we have the capacity to see through the death, the marginalization, the terror and torture, our pain and brokenness in our experiences and the many ways in which we are cruel or indifferent to others? Are we able to embrace the love that extends beyond the cross, that extends beyond death, offering hope and unconditional love?
If so, this very well may be the GOOD of Good Friday my friends.
Amen.
Alexandria M. Egler, Ph.D.Executive Director ofMission, Ministry & Interfaith Dialogue
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