There’s a lot to be uncomfortable about on Good Friday. We have become used to associating a cross with Jesus, but the reality of the cross in Judea two thousand years ago was quite different.

The cross was a means of execution, but it was also a means of humiliation. It meant you were cursed, the lowest of the low. 

But why do we call it “good?” One explanation I found is that the “Good Friday” might be an alteration of an earlier English phrase, “God’s Friday.” So, in the same manner that our “good-bye” is a shortened version of the sixteenth-century saying, “God be with ye,” “Good Friday” could have also been translated in the same way.

And yes, of course, when we see the big picture and acknowledge the resurrection on the horizon on this end of history, it is indeed “good!”

I think it’s okay to sit in the uncomfortableness of this day. It is a dark and somber moment as we remember Jesus suffering and dying on the cross, “wounded for our transgressions,” and “crushed for our iniquities.” It’s healthy to sit with that and not be in a rush to celebrate the victory of Sunday. 

Danielle Hitchen in her book “Sacred Seasons” writes “As he hangs on the cross, Christ allows the sins of all humanity in all space and time to converge upon him as he gently, lovingly, agonizingly pours himself out in order to destroy its deadly power. We look on helpless, both grateful and horrified, as we witness this kairos.”

This is often a time of fasting, mourning, prayer, and repentance. Many churches observe the Stations of the Cross.

Today, I’m meditating on Jesus’s final words. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” There’s a whole lot of meaning in these eight words, for Jesus in that moment, and for us now. 

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