Good Friday

After this google search left me wondering if the news media will ever understand Good Friday, I decided to try to write my own account of the importance of this holiday.  So, here goes:
Good Friday is the day Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross.  It is called Good Friday because God did his best work in history on this day -- best in the sense of "good," not in the sense of "earning approval."  In fact, God was rejected on this day, and it was a terrible day for humanity, in that we put the God of the Universe to death.  But God saw through his commitment and solved the problem of sin once and for all on Good Friday, so it is ultimately a good day.  The crucifixion was a gruesome punishment, and Jesus suffered immensely on the day we remember today.  He suffered not only pain and humiliation but also separation from the Father, something he had never experienced before.  His statements on the cross all have significance, but the cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is the most powerful to me -- it is a quote from the Psalms that indicates that Jesus did indeed suffer the punishment of sin, which is separation from God.  Since Jesus never sinned, he did not deserve this punishment, but he took it upon himself as an atoning sacrifice -- something God demanded of his people for a long time before Jesus.  Jesus alone was capable of taking on this burden -- he was a unique person, being fully human and fully God, and he was able to take on the sins of the world while on the cross.  He not only survived this crushing burden, he ultimately triumphed over it three days later when he rose from the dead.  That is what we remember on Easter.  But, for today, we remember the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus -- not an easy concept to explain, nor one that looks right to those who don't know Christ, but that's what today's really about to me.