Homily: Good Friday
“What’s so Good about Good Friday?”
by Fr. William Holtzinger
March 25, 2005

Tonight we celebrate Good Friday. Why do we call it “good” Friday? Didn’t something horrific happen to a man on this day, a man whom we all love? What’s so good about being beaten senseless, forced to carry the heavy weapon of one’s execution, and then endure being crucified to death? If all that was what those things were about, then this would certainly be the “baddest” Friday in human record. But, therein is the mystery.

Jesus’ suffering and death was not a dead end. He endured this torture in order that people who would be tortured in German concentration camps might know that God has felt their pain. He was abandoned by his closest friends so that those who would feel betrayed and lonely would be given consolation. He died a humiliating death so that those whose deaths were tragic, long suffering, or undignified would know that their God would never abandon them.

Indeed it was Christ’s passion and death that showed how much he loved us. As a bridegroom willing to give his life for his bride, Jesus sacrificed himself, took all our sins and weaknesses, and redeemed us. He spared nothing and gave it all for us. This instrument, the cross, became the instrument of our redemption. And so it is right that we reverence this image of such torture. It is one of the deepest mysteries of love we can ponder. For by his stripes, we were healed. That is the “good” in Good Friday.