We call it “Good Friday,” but why? It speaks of betrayal, injustice, death, darkness…and we call it “good.”

It’s the day we mark and remember that we are loved. Not in a flowers and chocolate sort of way, nor a mutual agreement to share resources and benefits. Rather, we are loved with an intensity that won’t turn back, no matter what opposition it faces; a love that won’t choose the easier path; a love that won’t stop before all needs are fully met.

Jesus knew it was coming – this bloody sacrifice of Himself in order to save those that would hang all their hopes (and failures) on His cross. As God, He knew what He had agreed to before we were created. As a man with experience in carpentry, He knew how splinters and nails and hammer blows would challenge His resolve.

But still He loved us enough to endure it all.

His closest followers bickered about who would be most exalted, and He answered their challenge by washing sweat and mud and other road grime off their feet. For three years He taught them about the Kingdom of God, about the importance of humility and reaching out to welcome outcasts to the place of repentance and restoration. Did He close His eyes and shake His head, wondering when they would finally understand?

He was betrayed – by a kiss, of all things! A man who shared three years of His life and ministry, who ate with Him, whose smelly grime-covered feet were in that group… This man sold the person he called “master” for the few coins a slave would bring.

None of it was a surprise to Him, it had all been arranged and agreed to long before the first rays of sun touched the fresh ground. This was what He agreed to in order that unmistakable inarguable Divine love could be on full display. In the final showdown, He accepted without complaint whatever the enemy could think to throw at Him.

And just when it looked like He’d certainly lost –

Submitted to fickle government authorities…

Rejected by the people who had praised Him…

Buried in another man’s grave…

He showed with certainty that He had won.

This is why we use a positive title for so negative a day. This is why we call it, “Good Friday.”