Have you ever wondered why the Friday before Easter is known as “good”? There was nothing good about it. Evil men, the people He had come to save, killed the Son of God. The ones who loved Jesus were plunged into the deepest despair. It was a terrible day, a time when creation itself recoiled in horror. Matthew 27:51-54: “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
We have Scripture to assure us that the story did not end there; that, although Jesus died, He would rise again, would bodily come out of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. However, those who saw Jesus die could not know that. They could not comprehend the magnitude of God’s plan of redemption. The ones who loved Jesus felt that hope died that awful day.
One of the explanations I read about the meaning of “Good Friday” says that the word “good” once meant holy and with that, I agree. It is a holy day, a day set apart in remembrance of the death of Jesus on the cross. I could also suggest that the Friday before Easter is good because it is the day when God’s plan of redemption for mankind was finished. Jesus completed God’s plan of Salvation on that day, and deemed it necessary for Jesus to die so that we who love Jesus and believe, the ones at the time of His death, and down through the centuries, could live in Heaven eternally. So, yes, even though it was the darkest day, it was also a holy day–Good Friday.
Mary Edna Latty’s New Testament
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