Good Friday makes me itchy. I woke up feeling a sense of dread and apprehension. The fact that this symbolic day of heartbreak, devastation and death is characterized by “good” feels subversive. I suppose that’s just me–speaking out of my humanness and my inability to understand or process the Easter mystery in its fullness.
After all, it is truly a good day to be alive and sharing my version of a Good Friday message with you. It’s also a good day to get groceries. It’s a good day to hit the mall. It’s a good day to go to a restaurant. It’s a good day to attend classes. It’s a good day to go to work. It’s a good day to go on with normal life routines. So, yes (tongue in cheek)…it’s a good day, almost as if the world didn’t fall on black days. If I ignore the cross (like the disciples), don’t reflect on it, and bear witness to its significance for me personally and the larger world– then it is a good day.
When I turn my face to the cross and recall our Christian story– “good” is not what comes to mind today. I remember that this good day is the terrible day that Jesus was locked up, denied, mocked, stripped bare, tortured, crowned, nailed down, hung up, heartbroken and thirsty.
Whatsoever I’ve feared has come to life.
Whatsoever I’ve fought off became my life.
How would I know that this could be my fate?
My soul doesn’t feel good on this Friday.
I can’t imagine how hopeless and sad, hungry and thirsty this day must have landed on those who were fortunate enough to be transformed by the Christ’s physical presence. Those who were touched, healed, held, caught, saved, forgiven, blessed, raised, understood, and found belonging.
If you are his mother, a disciple, the one giving orders, a dutiful Roman soldier, one who was personally transformed, in the crowd as a bystander, or in the crowd cheering it on…
this…
is
the
end
of
the
story.
Jesus himself weary and dying says from the cross, “It is completed. Bowing his head he gave up his life.”
The rest hasn’t been written yet.
The world fell on black days.
Please listen to another one of Chris Cornell’s prophetic and theologically compelling lyrics in the song, Fell On Black Days, performed by his band Soundgarden.