We focus, rightfully so at this time, on Easter, the Resurrection, Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the devil, the joy that we are assured Jesus rose from the dead so that we may have eternal life in Him. Nothing brings us more peace than this truth of Christian faith, with everything we believe hinging on Jesus completing God the Father’s saving plan, including His rising from the dead that first Easter day.

Yet, for this writer, only one day on the Church calendar surpasses the awe and appreciation that Easter brings — that day being Good Friday. Good Friday is, no doubt, the saddest, darkest, most solemn day of the year in Christianity. But its focus is what humbles sinners to heartfelt tears of repentance, and demonstrates the lengths Christ went to show the love of God for humanity.

The purpose of Jesus having to die on the cross was simple: God had declared in Eden’s Garden that if we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (willful disobedience) we would die. Paul, in his New Testament writing reaffirmed this: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. God’s Law must be satisfied, and Jesus fulfilled God’s Law as our sin substitute. In other words, Jesus died in our place, took our blame, our suffering. He who had no sin, became sin for us.

So what would become a fitting punishment for all the sins of the world? On the Friday called Good, we meditate on Jesus’ fervent prayer in the Garden prior to His arrest, praying through bloody sweat (a condition brought on only in extreme cases of shock or horror), we meditate on His mock trial and suffering, His scourging; we meditate on nails piercing His body, excruciating pain, loss of blood, circulatory shock, dehydration, arrythmia, life ebbing away slowly through unimaginable pain. We meditate on all the world’s sins heaped upon His innocent shoulders, all the selfishness, greed, hatred and prejudices of human folly, all on Jesus in this moment. We meditate on the fear of being separated from God, abandoned, forsaken, a state no living person can know, but should dread. Jesus took it all on the cross. And He did it for you, and for me, because it was His heavenly Father’s will, that Jesus would make all things new through His sacrifice.

Before His death, Jesus taught His disciples: “For I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:15, 34-45. What greater love is there, that one would die for His friends? And this includes all, even in our most grievous sins, as these sins have been paid for. Jesus does not tell us to die for one another, but to love one another, as He first loved us. There can be no greater love than His example of self-sacrifice, to substitute for another, to bear the most unimaginable pain and suffering, as Jesus did on the Friday called “Good.”

This is what we believe: Jesus died for sinners; He died for all, and for each. We believe Jesus went to the cross to forgive each person every transgression, that God no longer holds against us, all for the sake of His Son who paid the price and satisfied the Law, that the wages of sin is death. To know that Jesus did all this for me, a sinner, this is the most humbling, convicting and connecting moment of faith for every Christian. We celebrate Good Friday, we celebrate Easter’s Resurrection.

To learn more about what we believe, our churches are: St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fredonia (672-6731), stpaullcfredonia@outlook.com, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Gowanda (532-4342), and Trinity Lutheran Church in Silver Creek (934-2002).