What's so good about Good Friday?

A day off school and a lie-in?
Baking hot cross buns?

Cadbury's mini eggs, successfully smuggled into the country by the Easter Bunny?

Of course, Good Friday is about more than cultural traditions (and there are far fewer Easter traditions in Korr than there are in UK). Good Friday is when we celebrate the death of Jesus. But think about it for a moment...it's a strange thing to celebrate, isn't it? The death of the only perfect human, the son of God, a cruel death reserved for criminals. What's there to celebrate?

It's that it should have been me that suffered, for my rebellion against God that should separate me from him. But God willingly sent his own and only son, Jesus, on an amazing rescue mission to earth. Jesus died and took the punishment I deserved. The prophet Isaiah put it like this:

But he (Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us (me) peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Because of Jesus' death I can come to God. Forgiven, debt-free, redeemed and ransomed. Jesus himself said:

I have come that they may life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep.

I think that's pretty good! Something worth celebrating?!