Why Is It Called Good Friday?

It's a question we've all asked at one point or another. What could possibly be good about Jesus being tortured, ordered to carry the cross on which he would be crucified, and put to death?

On the surface, we see tragedy and injustice. Only when we pause to consider the purpose behind Jesus' suffering are we reminded it was an act of love. God sacrificed His Son to heal our union with Him, cleanse us of our sins, and save us for eternal life.

When we look at what was accomplished through the cross, we see people reunited with God, prophecies of Scripture fulfilled, and hope restored through His resurrection. In rising from the dead, Jesus conquered the grave and showed us suffering was not the end of the story—and it's not the end of ours either!

Knowing our suffering is never in vain enables us to persevere through it. When we turn toward God, He provides opportunities to use our pain for good. Looking for these opportunities and the unexpected gifts God offers in our suffering is imperative if we want our pain to propel us toward wholeness rather than defeat.

We have a tendency to try to rush through the hard chapters of our story to get to the happy ending—to fast-forward through grief and pain and want to skip from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. No one wants to sit in sorrow and despair, yet Somber Saturday was exactly that for Jesus' disciples. Their Savior was dead, their dreams crushed, and they saw nothing but darkness ahead.

When we are faced with disappointment, we can find ourselves in this space. Sandwiched between the cross and the resurrection, we wonder when (or if) our Sunday will come.

What if instead of losing hope, we saw it as a place where resilience and opportunity are found? What if instead of doubting, we trusted that long, cold winters always give rise to new growth? What if we learned to honor the space between the no longer and the not yet, recognizing that this is where transformation happens?

The space between is where we discover what we truly believe—where we can sit in discomfort knowing God uses it to chisel us. God's Word says He redeems 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 that are His, and we are His beloved children. Trust that God will bring you out of darkness just as He raised up His Son. He is writing a powerful story of transformation, and He's got something for us on 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒.