Why Is It Called Good Friday?
Published on Breitbart.com
On Good Friday Christians commemorate the day on which the Son of God made man was humiliated, stripped, tortured, and, finally murdered on a cross.
Why is it called “Good” Friday? What “good” could there be in calling to mind that horrific day?
Roman Catholic Deacon Keith Fournier of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia writes at Catholic Online:
On Good Friday we are reminded that death is no longer the final word. For those filled with hope of the Resurrection, it is no longer an enemy but a friend, the passageway to life eternal. We are also promised that the suffering we are invited to bear, when joined to Jesus Christ, can become a vehicle for love and mercy. It can also become material out of which we are changed, by grace, into a reflection of Mercy Incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, for others.
Bruce Ashford – provost and dean of faculty at southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary – also wrote at Fox News in 2017 that Jesus’ crucifixion accomplished three “good” things:
- On the cross, Jesus suffered so that we would not have to suffer.
Christianity teaches that human beings are prone to sin. God – in his infinite mercy and love, however, does not want us to suffer the consequences of our sins.
“For that reason, he took on a human body and came to earth as Jesus,” Ashford wrote. “When he did that, he ‘traded places’ with us. He lived the sinless life that we should have lived, and died the death that we deserve to die. He took our guilty record, died for it, and offers us his perfect record in return.”
“That is why the apostle Paul declared that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1),” he observed. . . . .
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