Some Resources for Good Friday

Here are few resources to get you thinking about Good Friday, Jesus and what all this means for you!

1. Raised for Us and Our Salvation: Too often in our churches the resurrection of Christ is a doctrine of secondary importance. It is neglected and forgotten until Easter comes around each year. The same disregard for the resurrection is seen in how we share the gospel. Christians can tend to share the gospel as if Jesus died on the cross and that is the end of the story. We make a zip line from the crucifixion to “repent and believe,” contrary to the example Peter sets for us in Acts 2:22-24 and 4:26. As central as the cross is to our salvation (and it is absolutely central!), what was accomplished at the cross is truly incomplete if the tomb is not found empty on Sunday morning.

2. Why Good Friday is Good: It was on this day that sinful humanity killed the perfect Son of God, and did it in the most deplorable and humiliating public fashion available at the time. So wretched and seemingly hopeless was humanity’s condition that when faced with One who was one of us, but so not like us; when faced with the One who could and would redeem us and lead us to God, we lashed out with murderous intent and nailed him to a Roman cross. No, by any measure available, this did not seem to be humanity’s finest hour. But it was God’s greatest hour.

3. The Father’s Cup (Good Friday): This is a wonderful and powerful retelling of the events Good Friday.

4. The Day Jesus Died: The day that Jesus died—the day we remember as Good Friday—goes down in the history of the world as a day of great suffering, when Jesus Christ endured the weight of sin and shame on our behalf. As we remember what it cost him to reconcile us to himself on this day, it is worth walking through what Jesus endured that day.

5. The Good (the Bad and the Ugly) Friday: “Why do we call it Good Friday if it’s the day when Jesus was murdered?” If you haven’t fielded that question from a child or a newcomer to the Christian faith, you’ve probably wondered yourself. The common answer is “It’s good for us, because the cross is how Jesus saved us.”

6. What Happened on Friday of Holy Week?: The witness of the four gospels are harmonized so that can read for yourself what was taking place during the Friday of the first holy week. It is well worth the time to read it.

Enjoy.

Happy Easter!