Good? Friday

Luke 23:33-34 (NIV)

33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Today is Good Friday. I don’t know about you, but that name bothers me. What’s good about today? Maybe it should be called Dark Friday - or Really, Really Bad Friday.

The name Good Friday has always seemed sacrilegious to me. Anybody who has read and studied about what Christ went through on that day, knows just what a painful day it was for Jesus. The Romans knew what they were doing when it came to execution.  Let’s just say that the Romans studied crucifixion long and hard, had tens of thousands of opportunities to refine it, and by the time they got to Jesus, understood how to make torture and prolonged death into a horrifying art.

It is hard to get my head around what Jesus went through for us.

So, Good Friday - how on earth, or in heaven for that matter, did today come to be known as Good Friday? One theory, which is pretty much the only theory out there, holds that for the English and the Dutch it used to be God’s Friday — that makes a little more sense. As with a lot of language, the word “God” got corrupted into “Good” - hence, Good Friday. Slavs and Hungarians call it Great Friday. The Latin nations call it Holy Friday. In Germany, it’s Mourning Friday, and for the Norwegians, it’s Long Friday.

Dear Lord, we struggle with how terrible it must have been to suffer under such great torture that You did for each of us. We thank You for Your great love that You showed for each of us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.