Why do they call it "Good"?

"As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" Mark 10:17-19 The man goes on to claim that he has kept all these laws, a notion Jesus quickly dismantles.

Today is Good Friday, which seems somewhat ironically named. It is the day Christians all over the world especially remember the day our Savior was spit upon, beaten brutally, mocked, abandoned by His friends, made to carry a heavy beam on His open wounds, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross. So far, so... good? The sun turned black. The earth shook. Graves opened. Truly this was the Son of God.

Why is it good? Someone asked me that a few years ago and I have to admit my answer was lame. I said it was because of the death and resurrection being the Good News for all people. Which it undoubtedly is, but the epiphany I just had was that that is barely the whole story. Jesus' death wasn't about me. It was about God.

In Bible study last night, one of the questions was about the definition of the word "transgression" and what that means in terms of God's law, and its implications for us. The word as used in the Scripture means to cross a boundary. Take a quick journey with me back to the beginning of the redemptive history found in the Bible... God created Adam and Eve and gave them one rule. One boundary. "Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... the day you eat of it you will surely die." We know the drill. Eve ate. Adam ate. God kept His promise. Death entered the world... humankind was not good anymore. But with judgment, there was hope. God provided for their shame by killing an animal, the first death we see in the Bible, which shows both God's deep love for His people but also the gravity of sin. The only thing that can cover sin and its ramifications is death. Adam and Eve couldn't do it themselves; it was done for them by God. In that same part of Genesis, God administers curses but also the promise of great victory in Jesus.

"And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."

The rest of the Old Testament shows the vicious cycle humanity has been in ever since: sin, judgment, sacrifice. Rinse and repeat. The hopelessness of humankind without God's provision. God's covenant with Israel, with the promises of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. God's patience as Israel whored themselves with other gods over and over. We also see God's promise to Abraham, but the way this covenant went down looks a little different. In Genesis 15 God reminds Abraham of His promises to make Abraham a great nation, with descendants too numerous to count. As assurance, God had Abraham cut animals in half, and then God Himself passed through the middle while Abraham watched. In that time, covenants were made in this way but both parties passed between the pieces to signify that if they broke the deal, then let that same fate happen to them. God took this on all by Himself. God is the one who does the work, not Abraham. God proves in His law that we can in no way keep it. We can't earn God's favor. No one is good except God alone.

That brings us to the New Testament.

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'" Luke 2:9-11

Simple verses we hear all the time at Christmas, but frought with deep theological significance. The response of these shepherds in the field when faced with the glory of God was not "Oh look at the pretty angel!" It was abject terror. Any time God shows His glory to people in the Bible it is the same response. God's holiness compared to our sin shows us what we know deep down. We're toast. But again, with judgment comes hope. The angel tells them not to be afraid but gives them the reason why they don't have to fear God's holiness anymore. Christ the Lord, the Savior, has been born.

Jesus, fully God and fully man, born to live in perfect obedience where we can not. All those laws in the OT? Fulfilled. The law given in the NT, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself? Done. But the perfect obedience of Christ by itself doesn't save. There is still a problem. The wages of sin is death. God is just. His justice demands death to pay for our transgressions, just like in the Garden of Eden. That has not changed. God did not abrogate Himself. He is a God of love, but also of justice and of wrath. Jesus lived a perfect life, then underwent judgment. His crime, as posted above His head on the cross? Being the King of the Jews. The King of Abraham's people, the children of promise. God promised to take the punishment of any covenant breaking on Himself. God didn't break any rules. Yet all the wrath owed to all believers, throughout time and throughout the earth, was poured out by God onto His only Son our Lord. It's easy to flippantly say that Jesus died for my sins. Yeah He did. He died for my sins, but it wasn't just a simple death. It was taking God's anger in my place. And Adam's place. And Eve's place. And Moses' place. And David's place. And Abraham's place. And your place. How many believers have their been in the thousands of years humanity has been stumbling blindly around this earth?

Christ lived a perfect life and He died. But that is not enough either.

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Romans 6:3-10

Two days from now we remember Easter, the day Christ rose victorious over sin and death. We are baptized into His death. It's not fair, but it's just as if we have already received the death we are owed for our sin. We died with Christ, and we live with Christ. We no longer need to shrink in terror from God's holiness. It's the best news we could hear. It's truly good news. But it's not about us. In the first passage, Jesus points out some significant things: The young man is tragically misguided if he thinks he's good enough for God. Jesus is Himself God, and no one is good but God. Good Friday is about God's goodness. Where does that leave us? How do we respond to that? Here are some questions from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Q. 84. What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.

Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.


May this Easter season bring rest. Rest in Him alone. Let us forget our own goodness. It doesn't exist anyway. But let us all be refreshed in that knowledge, because otherwise we would have received the punishment Christ took. Let us strive after new obedience, today, and always, that we may prove our high calling to the world and as we look forward to heaven together. Amen.