God Friday is Good

On this Good Friday (originally called God Friday) we are tempted to race to Easter Sunday.  Yet, the freedom of Easter is only found in the suffering of Friday.  There is no resurrection without death.    

They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.  1st Peter 2:23-25

In the moment, bad things can be overwhelming.  God's way is to transition even the worst, into something new and even beautiful.  There is nothing in this world worse than isolation from friends and loved ones, wrongful insult, physical torture, and finally death on a cross.  And yet, the resurrection and the Christian faith, the triumph of love, and hope itself was just three days away.

Good Friday faith is the freedom to suffer with a God that chose to walk through suffering and alongside each of us as we suffer and then let life go as we move into what is next.  In a culture that prizes grit and determination and survival, we worship a God whose body was broken on a cross, willingly, and announced “It is finished.”  While God is ultimately in the resurrection business, daily, we let go not simply to rise again.  We let go because God is enough.   God is with us through it all.  God has been there and has made the way.  We choose faith in Him who understands, lived it, died it, and creates a way through it to everlasting life.