What’s Good About It?

A Jewish friend of mine asked if I could tell her what’s “good” about Good Friday.  Jesus died on Good Friday, what’s so good about that?  On the surface, that’s not good, especially since Jesus was betrayed by a friend, denied three times by his closest collaborator and abandoned by his followers, all in that one day.  So what’s good about it?  Well, Jesus’ death on the cross is the ultimate gift of self-sacrificing love.  Jesus freely accepted death on a cross to reconcile humanity and divinity, to free humanity from death by carrying humanity through death into eternal life.  Jesus was willing to undergo death himself so that we could live forever in the peace of God’s Kingdom.  In my opinion, that’s about as good as it gets.