What’s so good about Good Friday? Why isn’t the day called Bad or Sad Friday? After all, it’s meant to be a day of sorrowful reflection, not a day of celebration. Sometimes, this day takes other names, such as Holy Friday. In Germany, it’s called Karfreitag, or Sorrowful Friday. So where did we get the tradition of calling it “Good”? Some believe it may have originated from the older tradition of calling it “God’s Friday.”
No matter the origin of the name, it’s still appropriate to call the Friday Jesus died “good.” Out of Christ’s sacrificial love, He died for our sins. That’s why Good Friday is good. And the great news is that three days later He rose from the grave in victory.
D.A. Carson wrote, “It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was his love for sinners like me.” We read in 1 John 4: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v. 10).
The good news of Good Friday is that God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us! Because of that love, we’re called to love others (vv. 7, 11). When we do, we show our love for Him.
