The Day Friday Got Good
WHEN GOOD FRIDAY GOT REAL GOOD
Oh, friend, pull up a chair and sit a spell, because this here story starts at three o clock in the afternoon on that very first Good Friday. That was the moment Jesus Christ gave up His spirit. The Gospel writers are ‘a-callin’ it the ninth hour, but around here we would just say it was the hour Heaven leaned in real close.
Now, I be ‘a-knowin’ what you’re ‘a-thinkin’, friend. Why in the world do we call it Good Friday when nothing about it looked good at all? There was nothin’ good about the beatin’s He took. Nothin’ good about the injustice He done suffered. Nothin’ good about a sinless man ‘a-bein’ nailed to a cross like a scarecrow stuck out in a storm.
But buttercup, what happened in that moment is what makes all the difference.
Centuries earlier, Job done asked the question every one of us eventually has to face. “What must a person do to be right with God?” (Job 9:2). That is the biggest pickle jar of a problem humanity ever tried to open. And the answer sure is not found in religion or in us ‘a-tryin’ to be better than a possum ‘a-pretendin’ to behave on the back porch.
The apostle Paul gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Why, mercy me! That’s it. That’s the whole thing. At that moment on the cross, Jesus done did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He done took the penalty for our sins. He done satisfied the justice of God so we could receive the mercy of God. That’s why Good Friday is good. Not because of what Jesus done endured, but because of what His death done accomplished.
And right when Jesus done breathed His last, the Gospels are ‘a-tellin’ us the temple curtain was done torn in two. That was God Hisself ‘a-sayin’, “Come on in here with Me, child. The door is open right now.” Because of Jesus, we done have access to God that no priest, no ritual, and no rule book is ever gonna be a’-givin’ us.
So today, friend, pause for lil ol’ moment. Think about the price He done paid for you. Consider the love that done held Him to that there cross tighter than a mama raccoon’a- holdin’ her babies in a thunderstorm. And thank Him that what done looked like the darkest moment in history has done become the greatest victory of all.
And let this truth from Psalm 16:9-10 go to hummin’ in your heart: “My body also will rest in hope because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.” Even on Good Friday, resurrection was done already marked in RED on the calendar!
Father, thank You for the cross and for the Savior who done hung there for me. Help me never to run past the weight of what Jesus done carried or the love that done kept Him there. Teach me to trust the mercy that done flowed from His sacrifice and to rest in the hope that His death has done opened the way for me to come to You. Let gratitude go to risin’ in me like a beautiful sunrise on a Easter morning. In Jesus name, Amen.
Now go on, Junebug, and carry this here Good Friday truth with you the way one of them there faithful ol’ sheepdogs keeps real close to its shepherd, never ‘a-forgettin’ who saved it and who is ‘a-leadin’ it home. What looked like the darkest hour in history was really the moment Heaven done threw open them there gates open and hollered, “Come on in here!” The cross aint’ the end. It’s the doorway. And because Jesus done finished the work none of us ever could, you can be ‘a-walkin’ in grace today with your head all lifted up high and your heart ‘a-restin’ easy on the One who done loved you enough to go and die for you!
With joy,
Gwen
