By Ryan Kelly –

The celebration of Good Friday goes far beyond the lead up to Easter. Rather, it is one of the most important days to each of us as Christians because it is the day where Jesus bore the sin of each of us on the cross.

Imagine having been beaten nearly to death with a cat of nine tail whip, then being nailed to a giant strip of wood at the entrance to Jerusalem along with two other hardened criminals for everyone to mock as they came and went out of the city. That’s bad enough. But Jesus was not you or me; he was literally God who came to earth in the form of a man to live with us and teach us. But ultimately, he came to give his life for ours.

On that cross, he substituted himself for us before the Father, to the point where the Father had to turn his back on the Son because at that moment he bore our sin. To go further, he experienced hell in our place.

I think it’s entirely reasonable to ask why we call this day good because of the torture and death that it represents. But it is good, because Jesus bore this death so that we won’t. With Him, our sin is forgiven and we are washed white. On this day, Jesus paid it all, and all to him we owe.