What’s so good about Good Friday?

At first glance, nothing. Immanuel, God-with-us is beaten, stripped, mocked, and then executed. His crime? Standing with the outcasts, healing the sick, and daring to stand up in the face of the power dynamics of his day and offer a different kind of power.

At first glance, Good Friday should be called ‘Bad Friday.’

For the people living the story, this was certainly what it was. Their friend, teacher, and Messiah lay dead in a garden tomb. His body was no longer moving, his miracles lay dormant, and any hope of him saving them faded away with his last breath.

The goodness of Good Friday actually comes from this bad. Humanity was presented with God in their midst and they rejected and killed him. Humanity had an opportunity to embrace a new kingdom where those considered less sit equally at a table with those on the inverse.

And they pushed it away. They literally suffocated it.

What’s so good about that?

What’s good is that even in missing the plan of God for transformation, restoration, and reconciliation, God will roar back in a few days later with a rush of grace.

Grace, not because we’re perfect, but grace because even though we’re not, we are still valued and loved.

Grace that finds us in the dark.

Grace that says to us: you no longer have to fear death because it has been overcome forever.

Grace that reminds us that we no longer have to worry about whether we’ve messed up too much for God to love us.

Grace that urges us to see that we never have to worry about whether God has forgotten our name.

Grace that causes us to never have to wonder if we’re alone in the dark ever again –– because God has lived in it too.

God-in-Jesus came to show the world a new way and they killed him for it. The goodness of the empty tomb is that it resurrects that his way again and gives it new energy.

The world can be changed. You are not forgotten. You are never far enough away from God that you can’t find God’s grace. This is the good news of Good Friday.

Christ has not just died, he’s been murdered by those he loves. A people who never get it right; a people who never quite hit the mark God has set; a people who will push against the kingdom of light; a world that does not deserve such grace.

AND YET…