Thank God It's Friday

For most working people, Friday is their favorite day of the week. It's the end of business and the beginning of fun. It's not hard to be happy on Friday.

But there is one Friday in history that was particularly bad, yet we call it good. It's a Friday that capped a week that began with the triumphal entry of a Messianic King and ended with the crucifixion of the righteous Son of God. It was a Friday of torture and blood. On this Friday, the one who breathed into man's nostrils the first breath took his last breath.

So what was so good about that bad, bloody Friday?

What typically excites us about Friday are the plans we make. Maybe it's a dinner date, a concert, or a Friday night football game. Every moment of the plan is for our enjoyment. The food. The fun. Our friends. Nothing will stand in the way of having a great Friday.

And that's the irony of that bad, bloody Friday we call good. A good God planned the whole awful thing. Psalm 118:24 foretold this Friday.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

They brutally beat the Son of God, on a day the Lord made? On the day the Lord made, they crowned Christ with thorns. As we watch the blood run down Jesus' face and hear Him scream in agony as executioners drive nails through His wrists and ankles, it seems blasphemous to rejoice. As three hours of ominous darkness descend and the second of the Trinity cries out, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" How are we supposed to be glad and not terrified?

The crucifixion was not a good day. The crucifixion of Christ was on an evil, awful day.

But it is called a good Friday because of a marvelous reversal. The reason we rejoice in such a horrible day is that Psalm 118 also says,

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

Psalm 118:22-23

To understand this passage, you cannot think of the cornerstone as the massive granite corner of a square building. The vision is not a square building, but an archway. In an archway, the cornerstone is not at the bottom but the top. The cornerstone is not the stone that holds it up, but rather the stone that holds it all together. It is a unique stone. Irregular, but irreplaceable.

The stone that fits nowhere else is necessary for everything else.

And that's the glory of that bad, bloody Friday. His death becomes our life. Jesus' rejection becomes our redemption. What was meant for evil God meant for good that many would be saved alive (Gen. 50:20).

On that bad, bloody Friday, evil crucified the Son of God. But in the resurrection, the Son of God crushed evil. The blood Jesus shed was not the end of life, but the atonement for many.

Thank God it's Friday.

Bible Study & Challenge

Read Mark 15.

• How does this passage call for us to praise Jesus?
• As you read through the passage meditate on it piece by piece. Picture these events as they unfold in your mind. Write a note of thanks to Jesus for His suffering for me and you.

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