What is so good about Good Friday?

When I was a little boy, I used to be very afraid of the dark.  Out at my grandparents’ farm one of the worst jobs my grandma gave to me was to feed the cats in the barn before bed.  It was dark.  It was scary.  And I’d always end up stepping on a cat, which scared me even more.  The only comfort I had was the flashlight in my hand.

 

I’ve got a confession to make.  I’m still afraid of the dark.  It’s not what you think though.  I’m not afraid of the darkness outside of me, like when I was a kid.  Now, I’m afraid of the darkness inside of me.  The darkness of sin within me is the place where fear, guilt, and shame reside.

 

Have you ever stopped to think about why we struggle with being real with others?  Why do we struggle sharing the temptations with which we struggle?  Why do we struggle with confessing our sins?  It’s fear.  It’s guilt.  It’s shame.  Isn’t it?

 

Do you realize the significance of what took place on that Friday we call good?  Here’s why it’s good.  In those three hours of darkness when the sun stopped shining because the Son of God was forsaken by the Father, Jesus suffered the pain of hell: all of the fear, all of the guilt, all of the shame in our place.  That’s why he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).  In those three hours of darkness, God the Father turned his back on God the Son.  He took the fall for an undeserving world.

 

In those three hours of darkness, Jesus erased the power of darkness by paying the price in full for our forgiveness.  He cried out “Tetelesthai” which we have translated, “It is finished.”  That word was a market place term in those days.  If you took out a three year loan on a new car...in those days it would have been a new donkey, on the day you paid back the full amount they would stamp "Tetelesthai" on your bank note.  It means “Paid in full.”  Do you recognize the significance of Jesus saying that from the cross?  It means he paid in full the price for our every sinner who has ever lived to enter into heaven.  That's what makes Good Friday good.

 

If you think that's too good to be true, that it's a myth.  Guess again.  Not only does the Bible say it's true.  Even the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus says it's true.  “At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous.  Many people among the Jews and other nations became his disciples.  Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.  But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship.  It was reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive.  Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders. And the tribe of the Christians named after him, has not disappeared to this day” (Jewish Antiquities; xviii, 65).  It's a historical fact.  Jesus died and rose again and really said, "It is finished."

 

We don't need to live in fear and shame and guilt any longer.  He paid the price.  Let’s not hide in the darkness any longer.  Every sin has already been paid for.  No fear.  No guilt.  No shame.  Only love, forgiveness and a home in heaven waiting for us.  It is finished.  Jesus wins.  Believe it.