I think what we call "Good Friday" was, on that first "Good Friday," not so good to those in attendance.
Some couldn't see past the brutality and the loss. Tears blurred their vision, and bloody bruises distorted the face of the One in whom they hoped. A day they thought would never come - Bloody Friday. Life was dying. Light became dark.
Others looked through mocking eyes and with sneered lips. Finally this usurper hung battered and disfigured before them; dying in full shame. He had challenged everything they believed. He called out their hypocrisy. Finally, a day they thought would never come - Bloody Friday.
Friday was a bloody day. It was not a pleasant day for reminiscing. It was a day of death. It was a day of earthquakes and darkness. It was a day (the only of which I know) of God turning his back.
Friday was a bloody day. But yes, it was a good day. Beyond what eyes could see and hearts dared believe, it was a good day. Because Friday was a day of sacrifice. The Sacrifice. Friday was a day when love personified killed death by dying. He killed sin's power by becoming sin.
Yes, Sunday is coming - with it's sunlight and empty tomb. But Sunday is the unveiling of Friday's victory. The victory of Bloody Friday.
God, thank you for Bloody Friday. Thank you for forgiveness so horribly won.
For now...
D