Sometimes an English word has many different meanings. English is my second language. For me that is another reason why English is so hard to learn. Still I wonder why the day of Jesus' crucifixion has been called Good Friday. According to the Gage Canadian Dictionary, there are around thirty different kinds of meanings of the word of "good." A very interesting thing is that when something is going on in a positive, encouraging, helpful, attractive, honourable, reliable, dependable, righteous, worthy, real, genuine, beneficial, advantageous, satisfying, well-suitable, thorough, completed, skillful, fairly, and cheerful way, then the word, "good" is used. In other words, good is good, nothing but good. This is a good enough introduction to know why Good Friday is good for us.
If the word, "Good," includes all these good things that are listed above, then Good Friday should be a very good day for all people of the world. However in the origin of Good Friday, the word "Good" did not begin with all good things. It began with a bad thing, a criminal thing, a death sentence. Good Friday is the day of Jesus' crucifixion on the cross. Definitely it was not good for Jesus and his followers too. According to the Bible, actually most disciples of Jesus, even Peter, were disappointed at the incident of their master's death on the cross that occurred due to the result of unfair and unjust judicial procedures. After Jesus' crucifixion, they scattered away by themselves in fear, anger and discouragement. But this bad, sad, horrible, unjust day has been transformed into "Good Friday". It has been good for anyone who believes in Christ Jesus as the Savior after Easter.
In our court system, normally a criminal act or offence is pardoned when it has met one of the following three conditions: 1) when you have proven that you are not guilty; 2) when you have paid the fine (financially or in jail time); or 3) when a judge has decided that you are not guilty. Before coming to Carlyle, I got two parking tickets in front of my own house. They said that I had parked in the wrong way. Yes, I did, but I thought that it was permissible on an urgent case. On that day, all drive ways had been paved and it was not allowed to park cars on the new pavement in my own drive way. So I appealed and the judge decided that I was free of guilt. Of course I violated the traffic law and the police officer was right to issue the parking tickets. But the judge said that I was not guilty. At that time I realized how powerful an authority a judge is!
Usually the majority of people think that they are innocent and free of guilt. Regardless what they think and believe, everyone and anyone is not good enough to claim themselves completely innocent and free of guilt from human laws, moral, natural and religious laws as well. St. Paul who was one of the most prominent lawyers at that time said, "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Therefore it is impossible for anyone to prove their own innocence. Everyone has to pay their own ransom for their own guilt, but we don't know how to pay, how much it will cost? And we all have to wait for the day of the final judgement. Good Friday is good enough to pay the ransom for all kinds of sins for anyone and everyone. Why and how? Because the final judge, God himself has paid the ransom for all the sins of all of humanity through the death sentence of Jesus Christ, his only Son. Good Friday is really good for everyone indeed! All of you are invited to Good Friday Service at Carlyle United Church 10:30 am.
