I’ve always been confused by the name given to this day — GOOD Friday. Really?

What’s so good about the devastating, unfair, cruel act we remember on this day? Jesus was mocked and scorned, beaten beyond recognition, and crucified as a criminal when the only thing He was guilty of was loving those who hated him and forgiving those who hurt him.

Why then do we call it GOOD? Well, the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I’m seeing the GOOD in this day. And to sum up several years of searching scripture and a plethora of journal pages of processing through it all...

There can be no resurrection without death. There can be no victory without a battle. There can be no growth without growing pains. GOOD is made better on the other side of the bad.

GOOD Friday set the stage for the GOOD News that was coming. Jesus said, “It is finished,” and breathed his last human breath (John 19:30). Many that day thought those final words and that final breath would be the final act, and the curtain would close.

Three days later, however, that curtain would re-open, because, literally, the curtain of the temple had been torn in two at the very moment of Jesus’ death (Mark 15:38). And when that curtain re-opened, it was a “curtain call” that moved all of Heaven and earth to applause as it revealed the BEST version of GOOD we will ever experience — death defeated that we might have life! Jesus lived, died, and rose again so that we might live abundantly and eternally with Him!

And that’s the very best kind of GOOD there could ever be if you ask me!