Awake, my heart, with gladness!

Why is Good Friday the "sad" church service, and Easter Sunday the "happy" one?  Have you ever thought about that?  Still, why is it "Good" Friday and not "Bad" Friday?  Why does the progression of sorrow to joy occur in Holy Week?

The Three Marys at Jesus' Grave, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

It may not be for the reason you usually think of, anyhow.

The Friday on which Jesus died, the week of Passover in the lunar calendar, is called "Sorrowful Friday" in some German and Scandinavian countries, in the sense of mourning, as well as "High" or "Holy" Friday.  Nevertheless, we can still understand it as Good Friday in the real sense, in that on that day of Passion Week, our sins were actually indeed accomplished.  Jesus cried out "It has been accomplished!" (John 19:30) at three o' clock in Friday, because the act of full payment for sins was completed then and there.  It was not left incomplete for three more days.

At the chapel of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg 

Some children's Bible storybooks seem to present another motivation for being sad on Good Friday.  "Oh, poor Jesus.  See how everyone is hurting Him.  I should have taken His place and helped - I feel really bad that that had to happen."  Yes, it is true that what happened to Jesus Christ, the innocent Lamb of God, was sad.  Yet, the Bible presents us these things as the raw facts.  He was whipped, beaten, teased, stripped, and paraded about in the streets, at last given the lowest possible death as a criminal - crucifixion, about the most pain the body can endure without going unconscious.  That is what really happened, and we can't change history the way God laid it out.

Still, no one could have taken His place there - as the Son of God and Savior of the world, Jesus had to go through the Passion on His own.  God knew from the beginning what His plan would be to save the world, and the human events and people surrounding it came into place just as He ordained it to be.  "God...desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:3-6).  Again, the theology of the cross:  God is good, and we must rely on His own revelation of Himself that what He does is good, even if it appears evil in how we perceive it.  "Every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17).

The real cause of sadness should be the open reviewing of what happens to sin.  This is how God thinks about everyone's original guilt and active disobedience - only His innocent Son suffices to pay, and the burden He bears encompasses the punishment for ALL iniquity. "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross . (1 Peter 2:24).  No stone has been left unturned, and there is no room for doubt.

Good Friday also brings to light the doctrine of universal objective justification, which intimidates those who confuse it with universalism.  That day, the sins of the entire world were declared righteous, effective immediately.  "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them" (2 Corinthians 5:18).  Without this, there is no real basis for evangelism, if you are unsure the person with whom you are speaking is able to be justified.  No, instead you are bringing this good news to the person, where the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart which grasps this justification for its own (subjective justification, by faith).  

Why are we happy, then, on Easter?  We see the effects of the reconciliation that occurred on Good Friday - if Christ has defeated all sin, then He has won victory over death.  "If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile - you are still in your sins!" (1 Corinthians 15:17).  

Joy on Easter morning doesn't come from relief that  people can touch and talk to Him again face-to-face, or that they don't need to remember the cross any more.  Today, many make it primarily into a spring celebration, and totally elude the origin.  It's not all about your eight-year-old daughter in a bright pink dress, showing off all the presents she got in her Easter basket.  Life's cheer is not based on looking great and eating chocolate (though America would love to have us believe that).  

It's about the true and simple fact that "Jesus lives, the victory's won!" because "death is dead, the true Life liveth!"

He is risen indeed!