Good Friday A 2nd Reading
Hebrews 10:16-25
Andrew Arp
I’ve always struggled with the term Good Friday. That’s not to say that Friday isn’t perhaps the most weekly celebrated day in our culture. No day is loaded with more promise than Friday and yet we set apart the day that God died and call it “good”. Maybe that’s because we know what awaits us on the other side of the cross. But in the midst of death, particularly the death of Jesus, is it really so safe to call it “good”?
The writer of Hebrews, in quoting the words of the prophet Jeremiah, is searching for a way to show us the goodness found in Jesus’ death. The new covenant that is established makes way for Israel to not only “Know” the Lord, but also for their sins to no longer be remembered. In fact, there is now no longer a need for sin offerings. According to the Levitical code,[1] the sin offering was the only way to make atonement with God for the people for their unintentional sins. I find this piece of the law fascinating. My wife and I over the last year have had a pair of foster brothers in our house, now 2 and 4. The four-year-old has developed a unique approach to those times he feels he is getting in trouble. If he has hit his brother or hidden something from us or broken some other household code (let’s keep it in the Levitical tradition), he declares to us that it was “an accident.” But we just saw you rare back and hit your brother…” it was an accident.” I imagine the writers of the Levitical code could not imagine anyone breaking the law on purpose and so the same can be said for our four-year-old. If you sin “on accident”, then this is how atonement is made.
Following the reflection on the words of the prophet we find the writer of this passage doubling down. We now have “confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus”. And perhaps this is where the “goodness” of Friday begins to take shape. Jeremiah spoke of this new covenant as a place where we all would know God and His law would be put in our hearts. I think it would be safe to assume that if God is revealed in this new covenant that God would also make known to us how much He “knows” us. If God knows us and still seeks to make a way for us through the curtain, through his death, then there becomes a certain assurance on our part to come before God. It’s much like the kids who have been in my home all their lives, versus the foster children we have. There is a certain assurance (goodness) that the older kids are aware of, that the younger two have yet to grasp.
Perhaps the fault lies in me with my understanding of “good”. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines good as virtuous, right, or commendable. Truly despite the gravity of what occurred on Good Friday we can begin to see that what took place by Jesus being executed by the religious and political powers of His day was virtuous, right and commendable?[2] Maybe it’s a matter of perspective. If I put myself in the place of the crowds, the ruling authorities or the Romans, as is often done in many Good Friday services, then I can’t conceive of my actions in any way shape or form as good. However, if I see myself in the willing self-sacrifice of the great High Priest then perhaps I begin to see virtue and righteousness that is commendable before all creation.
Lastly the writer of the passage challenges us to a proper response to this new covenant through the eyes of faith, hope and love. Our hearts are made pure before God through our faith in this new covenant. The image of “sprinkled clean” even calls to mind the sin offering process of sprinkling of blood on the altar by the priest. Our hearts, the very center of our being, now become the new altar by which we lay down ourselves in faith before God. We confess in this new hope that God has promised that life comes out of death. The ultimate hope of Good Friday is and must be Easter. And we now seek to provoke one another on toward love and goodness itself in the wake of the example set before us. I love the Greek root for the word used for provoke in this sense. The word paroxuno literally means to stir up or exasperate each other into love and good works. If anything, the story of Good Friday should unsettle us and provoke us into action that normally would not be a characteristic response.
So maybe this is where we find the “good” in Good Friday being made plain. The “good” is not found in what was done in the crucifixion of God or even in what we have done. But the “good” is now found in how God redeemed that Friday and redeems us still. So now, may we move forward in Faith, Hope and Love knowing that the story doesn’t end even in Good Friday.
[1] Leviticus 4
[2] Merriam Webster Online. Accessed April, 4 2017. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good
About the Contributor
Senior Pastor at Odessa First Church of the Nazarene
Andrew Arp
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