WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY?

Homily for Good Friday, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Bible Texts: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

Today, as we do every Good Friday, we gather in silence, reverence, and sorrow. The altar is bare and the tabernacle is empty. The Mass is not offered; instead, we remember the brutal, painful, humiliating suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, paradoxically, we call it “Good Friday.”

What is good about the betrayal, the false accusation, the flogging, the humiliation, the crown of thorns, the crucifixion, and the excruciating death of Jesus Christ? None of these things - not the pain, the injustice, the humiliation, or the death - are good in themselves. Good Friday is called good not because of what was done to Jesus but because of what Jesus did for us. Put differently, the answer to the question - why is Good Friday called good - lies not merely in the horror of the Cross, but in its hidden glory - in what it achieved for humanity. 

In the first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah, we hear the prophecy of the Suffering Servant. It describes one who is despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And yet, “by his wounds, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Herein lies part of the goodness of Good Friday: the innocent Suffering Servant took on the guilt of the guilty. The Cross, then, is not a tragedy but a triumph of sacrificial love. Jesus willingly embraced suffering to redeem us. As such, Good Friday is called good because it is the day that Love refused to let sin have the final word.

In the second reading, the author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is our compassionate High Priest. He did not save us from a distance. Rather, “he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). As a result of this, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). On Good Friday, Jesus does not only suffer for us; He suffers with us. He understands human pain, grief, loneliness, betrayal, and even death itself. Good Friday reveals that in our darkest moments, we are not alone. We have a High Priest who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death.

In the passion narrative, John is deliberate in timing the crucifixion of Jesus with the slaughtering of the Passover lambs in the Temple. He points to Jesus as the New Passover Lamb, the one who takes away the sins of the world (cf. John 1:29). Just as the blood of the lamb saved Israel from death in Egypt (Exodus 12), the blood of Christ now saves all who believe. Therefore, Good Friday is called good because it is the day death was defeated by death, when the Lamb of God shed his blood to set us free.

In and through Christ’s death, the Cross, once an instrument of shame or torture, has become the throne of God’s mercy. In embracing it, Jesus redefined power. Not by domination, but by self-giving love. St. Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified... the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24). Good Friday is called good because it is the unveiling of God’s true nature - not as a distant ruler, but as a crucified King.

Lastly, Good Friday is good not because of the pain and sorrow. It is good because of what Jesus accomplished through it - our salvation. The Cross is the key that unlocks the gate of eternal life. Today, we venerate the Cross not as a symbol of defeat, but of hope and a tree of life. We adore the Cross because it has become the altar of our salvation.