What's so "good" about Good Friday?

I remember hearing this question a while back and thinking...

WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY?

• What's so good about a man and a woman taking their relationship to the level of marriage?
• What's so good about rescuing an abandoned animal?
• What's so good about adopting a child who's parents have abandoned them or died?
• What's so good about an adult child taking a leave from their job to take care of their elderly parent?
• What's so good about a mother dying in childbirth only for her child to survive?
• What's so good about a man rushing to the aid of his fallen child and tending to his bruises?

All of these "good" acts are selfless to some degree. One person sacrificing their lifestyle for the well being of another. 

We tend to think that Jesus was beaten, mocked, persecuted and crucified by men. That Good Friday depicts the horrible thing man did to him. What could be so "good" about that?

But what ACTUALLY happened on "Good Friday" or the day that all of these horrific things happened to Jesus is that He was actually ensuring that these things happened TO him. He was seeing to it that the plan God put in place before the beginning of the World was played out to perfection. 

Yes, man was NOT inflicting pain upon Jesus (although at face value that's exactly what it looks like); but Jesus was allowing a series of events to play out, that were already planned. He was seeing to it that every detail fell into place: 

• His arrest (John 18:4 & 9) "..knowing everything that would happen to him..."
• Escaping stoning and instead being crucified (John 18:32)
• His scorning and mocking (Isaiah 53:7)
• The dividing of His clothes (John 19:25)
• He would be given water & with a hyssop (the same branch used to put blood on the doorpost in Exodus which symbolized His sacrifice.) (John 19:28)
• He gave up His own life (they didn't take it) (John 19:30)
• His legs wouldn't be broken (John 19:33 & 36)

Do you see it? The "good" thing? Jesus' suffering was so that I wouldn't have to suffer the eternal consequences for my own sins (inability to be good). Jesus wants us to see that every detail was planned ahead of time. Every thing that happened on that day, was Him LAYING DOWN his life so you could spend eternity with Him and in the meantime experience real true life on earth. He knew we wouldn't be able to consistently be "good" and any'goodness' that happened to come from our lives would fall extremely short of His expectation of holiness, so He took charge of the situation. 

What's so good about Good Friday? That these events didn't happen TO Him, but that He orchestrated them and oversaw them so that they would occur and did that so that God's anger towards us would be satisfied...FINISHED...over!

When this whole ideal of JESUS DYING FOR YOUR SINS moves from a concept that you understand and pattern of thought that you know, to a truth that you embrace it will change your life. You'll realize that you cannot earn heaven; that nothing you can do is good enough for God to 'let us in'. Otherwise we minimize all the things HE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN TO HIM. That's good news.