Why Good Friday?

When I was about sixteen years old my father came to me asking why the Friday prior to Easter is called "Good Friday" if that's the day when Christ was crucified. My father is unsaved and generally doesn't ask about spiritual things, so this question really floored me. It was a question I had never heard asked before. As I put my thoughts together to give him an answer to a question that I had never been given an answer to, I also wondered why me? Why would he ask me, not my mother or older brother who were both Christians as well.

© 2007 Richard D. Gelina

I believe there were two reasons for his coming to me. First, we had always been close, but the second reason I think comes closer to the heart. He resists the hard-sell tactics. He wanted an answer to a legitimate question without feeling like he would be harassed into making an immediate decision about salvation. I explained that I had no "official" answer as to why it is called Good Friday, but my belief was that if Christ had not died on the cross for our sins and arose three days later no one would be able to go to heaven. All of us have sinned and none of us can achieve salvation without the sacrificial gift of God's perfect son. If there were no Good Friday (Death) then there would be no Easter (Resurrection). I asked if there were any other questions he had or anything he wanted to talk about. He said no, but he had always wondered.

After a little research I have found that some say it was the sacrifice of Jesus and other say that "Good" also means "Holy."

Dad is still not saved, but is now attending church most Sundays. He is more open to the gospel and we are praying for his acceptance of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.