When I was a little girl in elementary school, I was so confused why we called the day that Jesus was crucified, Good Friday.
What could be good about that?
I could not reconcile the word “good” with all the terrible, horrifically painful things that happened to my loving, shepherd Jesus on that Friday. Jesus on the hill, preaching and teaching; Jesus with children around him, Jesus getting angry with the wrongs of the world and upsetting the tables, Jesus teaching His disciples so many, many things. I just did not want to think of that Jesus nailed to a wooden cross. How we could say that the day that happened was “good” was beyond me.
And the thing is, I did not ask my parents about it. It felt sacrilegious at that point in my life to question what the church was saying about that sad, sad Friday. And even though I was the “little girl with a million questions”, I didn’t ask them that one.
And it was clearly a mistake, because Chester Floyd and Geraldine Davis Floyd could have set me straight so easily. I had the resources right in front of me and let that opportunity go by. Let that be a continuing lesson to us all.
When we seek the answers we need, don’t overlook the people you trust most to tell you the truth.
Years went by and the truth hit me in the face somewhere around 12, I guess. My beloved grandma had died some time before and I was still missing her so badly. The only comfort was knowing where she was now and of course all the memories I had of being with her, what she taught me, the things I learned from her and because of her. I could still feel what it was like, on the floor beside her as she rocked in her chair and read the Bible out loud. Some of the words hit home, some floated around in my head, holding space for a later question time with grandma.
It was on one of those trips down memory lane that a lightbulb went off in my head and I connected all those dots to fully understand that the gift He gave to us and for us on the Cross, eternal life, was the ONLY reason I knew where grandma was now. She was in a GOOD place and that was the Good about Good Friday. BINGO! I no longer cringed at those words. Of course, there was even more to that gift…the rest of the story, so to speak, but that was yet to come.
Later on as I grew more mature in my faith, the “good” expanded to many critical areas in my life. The incredible miracle of the curtain tearing in two, opening the way for our direct communication with God; the pure goodness of a full and abundant life, the joy of creation and all that means, the solid gift of faith that has been my mainstay for all my life, ups and downs, good and bad, all made right through faith…those were also part of the good in Good Friday.
The Truth of Jesus Christ is a powerful life force!
It changes lives, transforms them!
It saves lives!
It creates new life!
All of that is GOOD! How else would the world recognize the savior, if not for him to die, in order to rise again and live!
Seek the truth tellers in your life when you have questions you cannot puzzle through. Seek the Word, that tells the truth. Seek the greatest truth teller of all time!
Jesus told the TRUTH. And His truth sets us free, yesterday, today, and all our tomorrows.
You may be faced with the worst possible thing in your life today.
You may be suffering in pain, physical and emotional.
You may feel at a spiritual loss.
You may think all the good has gone out of your life.
I would ask you to seek the One who knows all about that, the One who knows every pain, every sorrow, every loss, and is ready to take the tears away from you, ready to breathe new life back into your soul and your body.
Seek the truth and it will truly set you free.
And when you do that, in just a while, life will change, you will be transformed, and the Good Truth, the Savior of our lives, will be right in front, waiting to give you all the goodness He can offer.
That’s what’s good about Good Friday!
A blessed Good Friday for you and for all!
Around the Table 