As a small child, I remember being confused by the name “Good Friday.” There’s nothing good about it. At least from theological and liturgical stand points.
For me, however, it was a day off of school and they had free food at church when we hosted the annual ecumenical service. So, in that sense, there is something good for me in it, if I’m being completely honest.
But also, I wasn’t allowed to watch TV or play video games from noon to three (the hours Jesus hung on the cross) out of respect.
So, it overall leaned toward the bad. Not a good Friday. Bad Friday.
Perhaps it is cold comfort to remember that only God is good and that good things can come from bad. And many traditions have fashioned the cross as a point of celebrating the goodness of God.
To this I say: have you forgotten the resurrection? But there is something to their point. For what is Jesus’s purpose but to reveal the glory of God?
And to understand the glory, we must contrast the good with the bad. We experience the low to rejoice in the goodness at the end.
Good, bad, sad, hopeless, joy; it’s a whirlwind of emotions and connotations. Which means the point of all of this isn’t only the death or the resurrection, the pain or the joy. It is love. And that there is never a reason to give up hope. Or pretend like the bad stuff is the stuff God wants.
It’s about love. We find that and we’ll find the good.