Good for us, Bad for Him Friday

Insight and inspiration can come from unexpected sources.  When they do, chances are  it is worth paying attention to for it was probably deposited there by God for us to find.

Last weekend I had conversation with a sixth-grade boy which put life into a proper, purposeful and poignant perspective.

***As an aside, I must admit I love working with middle school boys.  

For some people, this subspecies is to be avoided at all costs.  

With their personal hygiene issues, bodily function affections and 

other unclassifiable oddities, middle-school-aged guys are often viewed as 

off-putting and awkward.  For me, though, the obvious juxtaposition of 

childhood and “adulthood” makes their minds fertile soil in which 
to sow (which is impossible to do without stepping into a 

poop joke from time to time).  They’re real.  They’re ready to challenge 

and be challenged.  They are often wide-eyed and rarely short-sighted.***

One of our walls at the Youth Center we run featured a posted reminder of how we are closed on Good Friday.  As I was manning the video game counter, Andrew came up to me and said, “So...you’re closed on Friday, huh?”

I turned, looked squarely at the reminder, gestured toward it and then returned my gaze to the bespectacled eleven-year-old.  “Yep...pretty sure...” I replied, knowing full-well he didn’t come to the counter to inquire about our hours.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked. 

“Nope,” he quipped and picked up a game list pretending to pour over it.  After just a few seconds he looked up at me without moving his head.  “Well, I have a question...” he said.

“I hope I have an answer,” I retorted.  “What is it?”

Why do they call it “Good Friday”? he queried.

...and this is part of what I love about my “job” -- right there, during a weekend evening full of game playing and junk food eating, amidst dozens of his contemporaries, I was being invited to talk about Jesus.

“Well, because that’s the day we recognize Jesus’ crucifixion.  He had to die to pay for our sins so we could be right with God -- ”

Sensing I was about to possibly break into preacher mode, Andrew interrupted.  “Oh, yeah, I know that,” he said.  “But, how can that be ‘good’ for Him?!”

I chuckled.  Quite astute.  But, before I could speak up to clarify, Andrew added, “Maybe we should call it ‘Good for us, Bad for Him Friday’!”  It was obvious he was quite proud of his assessment.  

Good for us, bad for Him.
How true.  Sometimes I wonder if we truly understand just how “bad” it was.  Strips of flesh just hanging from a battered frame, bleeding blotches where a beard had been plucked out by hand, so badly beaten Scriptures record He was hardly recognizable as a human being.

“Bad” doesn’t even begin to describe the anguish and the agony.  

Once again, before I could start to share the wisdom of my life of ministry and faith, my pre-pubescent counterpart chimed in: 

“He meant to do it, though.”

He meant to do it, though.  Again...wow.  YES...yes He did!  What a powerful proclamation.  Andrew cut through all the theology, brutality, and historicity of Jesus‘ sacrifice and made it impossible not to take it personally.  What an amazing thing to truly consider -- Jesus MEANT to do it.  The humiliation and hurt, the pain and public shame of Good Friday was all on-purpose.

...and WE were the purpose.

Our conversation continued and, in true middle school boy fashion, we talked about a variety of peripheral topics (weapons, blood, the jeers of the crowd, etc.)...until we touched on the idea of Jesus‘ disciples.  A panged look appeared on Andrew’s usually chipper face.

“Boy, how sad must they have been?”  he asked.

I was about to answer and he (again...and thankfully) cut me off to say, “I guess when you’re sad, you wait for Jesus to show up so you can be happy.”

WOW.

...when you’re sad, you wait for Jesus to show up so you can be happy.

I’ve been in full-time ministry for more than two decades.  I’ve preached thousands of sermons and spent countless hours in Bible study and teaching.  But in all my experience and training I have never been so smacked in the spiritual face with the power and simplicity of Christ as I was right then.  What a magnificent breakdown of one of history’s most seminal moments.

There is no way I can improve upon Andrew’s Good Friday message...I can only relay it to you:

• Good for us, bad for Him.

• He meant to do it, though.

• When you’re sad, you wait for Jesus to show up so you can be happy.