Good Friday?

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I have always been confused why they call this good friday.  This is the day, traditionally speaking, that we remember our Lord being falsely accused, beaten, moked, tried unfarely, and ultimately crucified in a very painful and humiliating way on a cross.  How can we call this day good?  I did a little Google research and found out that actually early Christians originally called the day "Holy Friday" or "God's Friday". Here is part of the article I found on faithclipart.com

Good Friday Origins

There are two possible origins for the name "Good Friday". The first may have come from the Gallican Church in Gaul (modern-day France and Germany). The name "Gute Freitag" is Germanic in origin and literally means "good" or "holy" Friday. The second possibility is a variation on the name "God's Friday," where the word "good" was used to replace the word "God," which was often viewed as too holy to be spoken aloud.

It's interesting to me how words have so many meanings and understandings.  I think if we take the word good in our language literally and look at what was good about that  day, you can honestly see the bad circumstances as a means for our ultimate good.  Christ suffered in all these ways, but when it was over, it was truely over.  He sacrificed His earthly comfort and pride and holiness, to take on our sin, to be the final sacrifice.  It is so humbling to me to think that He did all that for me.  I so often complain when my day isn't going right or I'm facing some seemingly impossible battle.  When I put those things in perspective with the cross, they don't seem so important anymore.

Think about what is good on this day.  Jesus, He was the only truely good and perfect person, and His death brought about the ultimate good.  We always have to go through the awful events of good Friday to make it to the resurrection on Sunday.  In some ways the struggle of good Friday makes the Resurrection that much sweeter.  I need to remember that truth in my own trials.  The problems make the victories that much better.  We must remember "good Friday" as a holy, God's day.  We must face it and see the darkness that our Lord endured and faced for us, but let's not grieve for Him as "those with no hope".  We know that the death was not the end.  It was the beginning of our life in Him and His goodness overcame sin's seperation.  Thank you God for your sacrifice in the cross and for making that awful Friday into something good.