What's so Good about Friday?
We Christians must be crazy. We're the only religion I know of that not only commemorates, but actually celebrates the death of our founder. And it wasn't a natural death; it was a shameful and utterly humiliating act of unmitigated, prolonged and bloody torture. Just watch Mel Gibson's "Passion" again. Though way over-done dramatically, historically it still falls short of the horror of the actual scourging and crucifixion and Jesus. And we're so happy about it, we proudly display the cursed instrument of execution as our defining symbol: the CROSS. We joyfully sing songs about the cross and the blood of Jesus: "So I'll cherish the old rugged cross...", "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins..." Why do we celebrate all that blood and suffering?
The answer is of course in the spiritual reality behind the physical one. I like the Spanish version of the hymn we sang this morning in our "Viernes Santo" service: "Lávame en tu sangre, Salvador. Límpiame de toda mi maldad..." Translation: "Wash me in your blood, Savior. Cleanse me of all my evilness..." No pulling punches there. But if we're truly and hopelessly evil at heart, then the cleansing action of Jesus' blood is truly welcome and to be celebrated. If all suffering takes on meaning because Jesus (i.e. God) suffered, then we should proudly display symbols of Jesus' personal torture and death chamber all over the place.
It's because what we're really celebrating is not bloody torture and death, but rather the beginning of the end of those things -- the end of all evil, sin, suffering and death. My sins, my core evilness can be wiped clean once and for all. My hardships, my diseases, my suffering and even my imminent death are all basically temporary. And in some mysterious way, they participate in the redemptive suffering of Jesus, and therefore have meaning.
Hindsight is the key in all of this. We can celebrate "Bloody" Friday and call it "Good" because we know what happened on Sunday. We can take a spiritual bath in Jesus' blood and know we're clean because it was our sins that were literally nailed to the cross and left there (not Jesus). We can suffer in this life and eventually die in perfect peace because we know that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us up, perfect and whole in every way. As Tony Campolo made famous: "It may be Friday, but Sunday's coming!"
