As the world prepares to celebrate Easter, the narrative of Palm Sunday’s triumph and the anticipation of the resurrection overshadow an essential and somber day in Christian faith: Good Friday. The irony of its name persists – why do we call it “good” when it marks the gruesome death of Jesus Christ? Within the darkness of Good Friday lies a profound light: The Cross signifies the triumph of life over death. It is where Jesus took our place! Sin came for all, but Jesus replied, “You do not get them. You get me.”
Consider Barabbas, the forgotten figure in the Passion narrative. He was the robber, revolutionary who was released instead of Jesus. He was regarded as a “notorious prisoner” (Matthew 27:16; John 18:40) who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection (Mark 15:7). Pilate recognized that Jesus was innocent and wanted to free him, yet in the face of political pressures and the cries of the mob, he offered to release Barabbas, the guilty one.
I often wonder if Barabbas, watched from a distance at Jesus on the cross in amazement. Sandwiched in the safety of the crowd, I wonder if, when people noticed him they said, “What are you doing? You have been spared! Get out of here!” Did he respond, “I must see the one who took my place!”? Amidst the chaos of the crowd, he found himself unexpectedly pardoned. Did he, like us, struggle to comprehend the magnitude of the innocent man willingly taking his place on the cross?
The largest and most sophisticated destroyer in the Navy’s fleet is called the U. S. S. Michael Monsoor. It was named after a Navy Seal, with Delta Platoon, that was sent to Iraq on April 2006 and assigned to train Iraqi Army soldiers in Ramadi. On September 29, 2006, an insurgent threw a grenade onto a rooftop where Monsoor and others were positioned. Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented by President George W. Bush to Monsoor’s parents on April 8, 2008. Speaking of that day, “‘Mike had a clear chance to escape, but he realized that the others did not. In that terrible moment, he had two options—to save himself, or to save his friends. For Mike, this was no choice at all. He threw himself onto the grenade, and absorbed the blast with his body.’ One of the survivors puts it this way: ‘Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, ‘You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.’” Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
That is what Jesus did on Good Friday. He took our place! Sin comes for us all, but on Good Friday, Jesus says, “You do not get my brothers and sisters! I will go in their stead!” Why is Good Friday good? It is good because Jesus took our place!
