Today is a Christian holy day called "Good Friday." As a kid, I was confused by this name-- I thought it should be called Black Friday, because the sky went dark for three hours when Jesus died. But of course that name has already been taken by the day after Thanksgiving, when Americans celebrate shopping.
Why would a major religion celebrate the day on which its main figure dies a shameful, public, excruciating death? And why would it be called "Good?"
We call it good because Jesus' death saved the world. Christ died on the cross for us in our place, bearing for us the penalty of sin which we would have to bear but for His substitutionary death.(Mark 10:45; Rom 5:6-8; 2 Cor 5:14; Gal 3:13; 1 Peter 3:18) Those of us who believe in Christ are spared the punishment of eternal death because Christ bore our sins and was punished on our behalf.(John 5:24; Rom 4:25) That is really good news for a sinful, broken world.
But mostly, we call it Good Friday (even though I think it was actually a Thursday, but that's another blog post) because of what happens on Sunday. Check this out.
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